Underdog Fantasy founder slams DFS giants over pick’em games regulatory scrutiny
Jeremy Levine suggests FanDuel and DraftKings are using a “disingenuous narrative” to encourage regulators to bar fantasy games in anti-competition action
Underdog Fantasy founder and co-CEO Jeremy Levine has claimed daily fantasy sports (DFS) giants FanDuel and DraftKings are forcing regulatory scrutiny of so-called pick’em games to force competition in the market out of business.
Taking to professional networking site LinkedIn and X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Levine expressed his excitement for the future of the Underdog Fantasy business, lauding both its existing DFS contests and its pick’em games as being “wildly popular” with US players.
“Our content network is world-class. We’re building an entirely new vision for sports betting in America, all in-house,” Levine said.
However, he then launched a stinging rebuke of FanDuel and DraftKings, claiming the pair “are working to slow us down,” citing recent media reports concerning regulatory scrutiny of firms including Underdog Fantasy and PrizePicks across a number of jurisdictions.
The duo were recently ordered to exit the Wyoming market after regulators there suggested the pick’em games being offered were sports betting in all but name. It followed PrizePicks exiting the Maryland and West Virginia markets after regulators expressed similar concerns.
Last week, the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) continued a statewide exclusion prohibiting pick’em style games from the state’s existing DFS rules despite requests being made to allow the games.
Officials from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission have also suggested they might look to examine any connotation that the games are effectively a form of illegal sports betting in the near future.
But Levine implies the intensified scrutiny is down to FanDuel and DraftKings.
“They are coordinating their lobbyists, market power, partners, and years of political contributions to try to stop us and other fantasy companies. Why? Underdog and other companies innovating in fantasy sports and sports betting threaten their monopoly,” he explained.
“They’ve seen our company, and others, produce superior products and challenge them for sports fans’ attention. They can’t raise their own game because they can’t innovate. They’re scared that we’ll challenge their market positions. We’re already bigger in fantasy.”
He continued: “They can’t tell policymakers and others they don’t like competition, so FanDuel-DraftKings are using a disingenuous narrative that our fantasy sports contests are illegal.
“The arguments are ironic, ignoring the law for the same flimsy “feels like sports betting” line that critics have always lobbed at their fantasy sports contests.
“Despite a year of effort, they’re losing the fight with regulators. A clear, simple fantasy sports legal framework exists because of the laws they wrote,” he added.
Under most DFS legislation, fantasy contests must contain three core elements: they must be a game of skill and not chance, must contain multiple athletes, and the outcome of said contest must be based on accumulated statistics.
Levine contends that these elements form a “crystal clear” distinction between DFS and sports betting, suggesting that DraftKings and FanDuel are trying to confuse the issue.
“Regulators agree that our contests are fantasy and not betting, including regulators who oversee both fantasy and betting in Arizona, Colorado, and Indiana. The North Carolina Legislature and Alabama Attorney General recently said we’re right,” Levine wrote.
“This isn’t a good-faith fight on the legal merits; it’s a convenient mask for a pure anti-competitive effort. They want to prevent consumers from playing the fantasy sports they love. They want to quash competition in fantasy and stop innovation, and potential rivals, in sports betting.
“Unable to innovate with new sports games, they are trying to ensure fantasy sports are limited to a very narrow category of games. They want American sports fans to have only one outlet for sports games: the tired old casino sportsbook.”
He continued: “We have a different vision. We’ve shown how innovation can bring about new games that our fans love, and ways for our players to increase their enjoyment of sports.
“We’ll keep innovating, with many new games for fans in our future. And we’ll win this fight to ensure the future of sports games in America serve the fans and not only the interests of big tech monopolies,” the Underdog co-CEO concluded.
A letter summarizing Levine’s arguments is accessible on the Underdog Fantasy site here.