DFS Legalized in New Jersey and Delaware, DraftKings to Offer Billion-Dollar Prize

Posted on: August 24, 2017, 05:56h. 

Last updated on: August 24, 2017, 08:07h.

Casino.org Staff Writer Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

New Jersey has become the 16th state in the US to enact legislation to regulate daily fantasy sports. Gov. Chris Christie signed the state’s DFS bill into law on Thursday, just in time for the September 7 start of the football season.

chris christie
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie enacted legislation to legalize daily fantasy sports on Thursday. We wonder if he’ll be entering DraftKings’ Billion Dollar Line-up Challenge. (Image: Associated Press)

Football fans in Delaware will also benefit from some timely new regulations. The state enacted a law in late July that legalized DFS, and it takes effect on Friday. Both DraftKings and FanDuel are expected to open up shop to Delawareans immediately. Maine also passed similar legislation several weeks ago.

Shifting Landscape

The New Jersey legislature’s decision to move on DFS was somewhat surprising since it had been reluctant in previous years to consider it over concerns that it might jeopardize its legal battle to offer bona fide sports betting at its casinos and racetracks.

But the willingness of more than a dozen states to legalize and regulate DFS over the past 18 months has made New Jersey’s decision non-controversial.

Christie made no comment as he enacted the bill, although he has been dismissive of DFS regulation in the past.

“Are we really talking about getting the government involved in fantasy football?” he asked in October 2015. “Wait a second. We have $19 trillion in debt, we have people out of work, we have ISIS and al Qaeda attacking us, and we’re talking about fantasy football? Can we stop?

“Enough on fantasy football,” he snapped. “Let the people play. Who cares?”

Billion Dollar Line-up Challenge

Meanwhile, as if to welcome these new states back into the fold, DraftKings has announced it will be offering its players the chance to win $1 billion in a complete freeroll, although when we say “chance” we must qualify that the odds are pretty slim.

It’s real enough, though. The Billion Dollar Line Up Challenge calls on DraftKings’ players to create the “perfect” line-up, which is defined as “the lineup that scores the most DraftKings fantasy points that could possibly be scored within the salary cap and position requirements.”

While LegalSportsReport acknowledges that the odds of doing this are individually dependent on the skill and knowledge of each participant, an industry analyst they asked to calculate the chances of success of a purely random entry suggested it’s around two trillion to one.

Still, it’s free to play, so why not try your luck? The offer stands only for the first week of the new season.

Of course, if you hit the trillion-dollar jackpot, the prize will be paid not by DraftKings but by several insurance companies, and we imagine, considering the odds, these companies are probably fairly relaxed about the whole proposition.