Written by Glenn Blaine at NY Daily News.com
Daily fantasy sports websites are now just a signature from Gov. Cuomo away from resuming operations in New York.
In a pre-dawn vote Saturday morning, state lawmakers gave final approval to legislation that legalizes daily fantasy sports and gives the Gaming Commission power to regulate the sites.
“With football season around the corner, you are going to make a lot of New Yorkers very happy,” Sen. John Bonacic (R-Orange County), a sponsor of the bill, said as the Senate voted 45-17 in favor the bill.
The bill, which was approved by the Assembly earlier Friday, was among the last bills approved by the Legislature before it concluded its session for the year. The measure now heads to Gov. Cuomo, who has yet to take a position on whether to sign it.
“Under review,” Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said when asked about the bill.
Daily fantasy sports sites FanDuel, DraftKings and Yahoo shut down their New York operations in March as part of an agreement with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who had accused them of violating state gambling laws.
The bill crafted by Bonacic and Assembly Racing and Wagering Wagering Committee Chairman Gary Pretlow (D-Westchester) defines daily fantasy sports as a game of skill instead of chance.
Under the Legislature’s bill, the sites would be required to obtain a license from the state and pay a tax equal to 15% of their gross revenues after prizes have been taken out.
They would also be charged an additional .5% tax to cover the licensing fee.
Tax revenue collected by the state from the sites would be used to fund education.
“This bill is a touchdown,” Pretlow said.
The bill, however, faced opposition from some lawmakers who complained that daily fantasy sports represented an unwelcome expansion of gambling in the state.
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