If DFS isn’t Gambling, then why did Operators Apply for a Sports Gambling License in the UK?

Is it gambling, or is it not gambling… that is the big question now that news has surfaced that DFS companies had applied for a sports gambling license in the UK.

For months now, major daily fantasy sports (DFS) companies FanDuel and DraftKings have been denying allegations from US lawmakers—particularly those from NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman—that their operations constitute as illegal online sportsbooks in US. As a result, it’s little wonder why the American public is so puzzled by the news from Schneiderman’s Tuesday court filing, in which he dropped the bombshell that both companies had applied for a sports gambling license in the UK.


“The attempt to have it both ways extends to the approach of DFS sites with regulators. In the US, FanDuel and Draftkings disclaim any links to gambling—where such activities face serious prohibitions. Yet in the United Kingdom, where gambling online is permitted with the appropriate licenses, both companies applied for, and DraftKings received, licenses from the UK gambling commission,” said Schneiderman.

If DFS isn’t gambling, as FanDuel and Draftkings have so strongly maintained, then why on earth did they apply for a gambling license when bringing their operations overseas? That’s the query on everyone’s minds as the next hearing between the DFS kingpins and their archrival Schneiderman approaches.

DFS operators say they applied for a sports gambling license in the UK because they’re just following the rules

In wake of the US gambling news, both FanDuel and DraftKings have suggested that their applications for a sports gambling license in the UK was just a case of following the country’s rules. In the UK all forms of sports betting—and they include fantasy sports and DFS in this umbrella—are legal and regulated, and so for the companies to move into the British market they would need the necessary licenses to operate.

Drake Law professor Keith Miller commented on the controversial case, saying that: “When Drafts and FanDuel go over there and say ‘We want a gaming license,’ I think it’s like so many things they have done: having a little bit of tone deafness about how it comes across to people who aren’t as involved as many people are.”

In simple terms, when your company has been making public and legal claims for months that your business is not a form of gambling, you’re in danger of coming across as a huge hypocrite if you apply for and receive a gambling license in a different country.