{"id":28672,"date":"2015-04-28T14:17:20","date_gmt":"2015-04-28T21:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=28672"},"modified":"2015-04-28T14:17:20","modified_gmt":"2015-04-28T21:17:20","slug":"kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Kansas Attorney General Says Fantasy Sports Are Legal in State"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kansas
The Kansas state legislature is considering a bill that would clearly define fantasy sports games as legal in the state. (Image: wibw.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kansas has been one of the trickiest states for the daily fantasy sports industry to navigate.<\/p>\n

While it wasn\u2019t among the five states that major sites like DraftKings and FanDuel<\/a> routinely excluded from their real money contests, it wasn\u2019t exactly clear that the state was on board with the games being legal, either.<\/p>\n

The Kansas Gaming and Racing Commission said last year that fantasy sports in general were illegal under state law, though they didn\u2019t expect anyone to be prosecuted for the \u201ccrime\u201d of playing such games.<\/p>\n

But a new opinion now questions that stance.<\/p>\n

According to Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, fantasy sports leagues are not illegal in the state, as they would be considered games of skill rather than a lottery.<\/p>\n

The opinion cited the fact that a game would have to be determined predominantly by luck rather than skill to be considered a game of chance.<\/p>\n

Skill Component Would Make Fantasy Sports Legal in Kansas<\/b><\/h2>\n

\u201cWe believe that if fantasy sports leagues fall within the definition provided in 2015 Senate Substitute for HB 2155, then fantasy sports leagues are games of skill and therefore not a lottery,\u201d Schmidt and Deputy Attorney General Athena Andaya wrote in their opinion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe definition of \u2018fantasy sports leagues\u2019 in the bill specifically incorporates the dominant factor test by requiring that \u2018all winning outcomes reflect the relative knowledge and skill<\/i> of participants and are determined predominantly by accumulated statistical results of the performance of individual athletes in multiple real-world sporting events.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The bill in question is one that would exempt fantasy sports from the state\u2019s gaming laws, a bill that would clarify exactly where fantasy games (including daily fantasy sports) stand in the state.<\/p>\n

While the Attorney General\u2019s opinion has helped this somewhat, it\u2019s unclear if it will be enough for Kansas to be moved entirely into the \u201csafe\u201d category for all fantasy sports sites: Star Fantasy Leagues, for instance, does not allow players in Kansas to participate in their games, due to the previous statement from the state\u2019s Gaming and Racing Commission.<\/p>\n

Legislator Wanted Opinion for Clarification<\/b><\/h2>\n

The opinion was requested by State Representative Mark Kahrs (R-Wichita), a lawyer who says he doesn\u2019t oppose fantasy sports, but wanted more certainty as to the current state of the fantasy sports situation in Kansas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it provides certainty in the law,\u201d Kahrs said.<\/p>\n

Right now, there are five states that most experts, including the Fantasy Sports<\/a> Trade Association, generally agree have laws that make real money fantasy sports contests illegal.<\/p>\n

These include Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Washington. These states have become notable in the daily fantasy sports industry due to the fact that they are the ones generally excluded from contests that are otherwise offered across the United States.<\/p>\n

However, this prohibition has little to do with the nature of daily fantasy games, and more to do with more general laws regarding fantasy sports in those states.<\/p>\n

In many cases, even more traditional fantasy sports sites like Yahoo and ESPN.com do not allow participants from those states to compete for prizes, though they can play in free games that do not give out awards.<\/p>\n

The daily fantasy sports industry has been pushing for new laws in these states (and others) that would legalize fantasy sports as games of skill.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kansas has been one of the trickiest states for the daily fantasy sports industry to navigate. While it wasn\u2019t among the five states that major sites like DraftKings and FanDuel routinely excluded from their real money contests, it wasn\u2019t exactly clear that the state was on board with the games being legal, either. The Kansas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":28673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKansas Attorney General Says Fantasy Sports Are Legal in State<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An opinion from the Attorney General of Kansas conflicts with previous statements from state officials that suggested fantasy sports games were illegal in Kansas.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kansas Attorney General Says Fantasy Sports Are Legal in State\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An opinion from the Attorney General of Kansas conflicts with previous statements from state officials that suggested fantasy sports games were illegal in Kansas.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-04-28T21:17:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/kansas-legislature-700-400.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/\",\"name\":\"Kansas Attorney General Says Fantasy Sports Are Legal in State\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/kansas-legislature-700-400.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-04-28T21:17:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-04-28T21:17:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"An opinion from the Attorney General of Kansas conflicts with previous statements from state officials that suggested fantasy sports games were illegal in Kansas.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/kansas-legislature-700-400.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/kansas-legislature-700-400.jpg\",\"width\":700,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"The Kansas state legislature is considering a bill that would clearly define fantasy sports games as legal in the state. (Image: wibw.com)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sports Betting\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Sports\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Kansas Attorney General Says Fantasy Sports Are Legal in State\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\",\"name\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Casino.org Staff Writer\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Kansas Attorney General Says Fantasy Sports Are Legal in State","description":"An opinion from the Attorney General of Kansas conflicts with previous statements from state officials that suggested fantasy sports games were illegal in Kansas.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Kansas Attorney General Says Fantasy Sports Are Legal in State","og_description":"An opinion from the Attorney General of Kansas conflicts with previous statements from state officials that suggested fantasy sports games were illegal in Kansas.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2015-04-28T21:17:20+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/kansas-legislature-700-400.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Casino.org Staff Writer","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Casino.org Staff Writer","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/","name":"Kansas Attorney General Says Fantasy Sports Are Legal in State","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/kansas-legislature-700-400.jpg","datePublished":"2015-04-28T21:17:20+00:00","dateModified":"2015-04-28T21:17:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77"},"description":"An opinion from the Attorney General of Kansas conflicts with previous statements from state officials that suggested fantasy sports games were illegal in Kansas.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/kansas-legislature-700-400.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/kansas-legislature-700-400.jpg","width":700,"height":400,"caption":"The Kansas state legislature is considering a bill that would clearly define fantasy sports games as legal in the state. (Image: wibw.com)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/kansas-attorney-general-says-fantasy-sports-are-legal-in-state\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sports Betting","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Sports","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/sportsbetting\/sports\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Kansas Attorney General Says Fantasy Sports Are Legal in State"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77","name":"Casino.org Staff Writer","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0853bd574da5b217483afb1fbbee33a5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Casino.org Staff Writer"},"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corg-staff-writer\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28672"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}