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- Underdog Fantasy surprisingly relaunched its draft style daily fantasy sports competitions in New York
- Underdog Fantasy withdrew its daily fantasy sports games from the Empire State this past March
- The New York State Gaming Commission previously levied a $17.5 million fine to Underdog Fantasy
Underdog Fantasy has made a surprising return to New York.
Underdog Fantasy tonight relaunched its draft-style daily fantasy sports (DFS) games in New York, nearly two months after it withdrew all of its DFS competitions from the Empire State.
The decision to withdraw all DFS contests from New York in March came after a ruling from the New York State Gaming Commission in which the commission determined Underdog was not in line with the state’s current DFS law.
Surprising Decision to Relaunch in NY
An Underdog Fantasy spokesperson notified Saturday Down South of the relaunch around 6:55 p.m. The games were officially relaunched in the Empire State around 7 p.m.
The Underdog Fantasy spokesperson declined to comment on why the company decided to relaunch its draft competitions in New York. The spokesperson instead pointed to a social media post on X about the decision.
The draft competitions are now live in the state.
An Underdog Fantasy spokesperson did confirm the company is still working under a temporary license. The New York State Gaming Commission agreed to allow the company to offer its draft DFS games with the temporary license.
Most DFS companies in New York do operate with a temporary license.
Disagreement Over DFS Licensing
Underdog Fantasy withdrew from the state in March after a disagreement over its temporary license. Underdog Fantasy acquired Synkt Games, and its temporary DFS license, in 2022.
However, the New York State Gaming Commission determined state law requires that temporary license holders not alter their DFS games from the time of license issuance. For Underdog, this means the company would have had to offer DFS games similar to the ones Synkt Games offered when it received its temporary license from the gaming commission in 2015.
The gaming commission, however, ruled that Underdog Fantasy did indeed alter its games from their original state and fined the company $17.5 million.
The company released a statement to the media following its withdrawal decision. Underdog Fantasy legal counsel disagreed with the commission’s interpretation of the law, but agreed to settle the matter with the withdrawal and paying the $17.5 million fine, equivalent to the amount of revenue Underdog’s game generated in New York.
Robert is an expert on sports betting in the United States, specifically the legalization process and regulation surrounding the industry.
