- Underdog is moving away from against the house daily fantasy contests in California
- The company has shifted its offerings to peer-to-peer games in the Golden State
- The decision comes about two weeks after California Attorney General Rob Bonta released his opinion on the legality of DFS contests
Underdog has made a substantial change in California’s shaky daily fantasy sports market.
Nearly two weeks after California Attorney General Rob Bonta released a legal opinion in which he declared daily fantasy sports contests to be illegal in the Golden State, Underdog announced a shift to its champions product, moving away from its pick’em style, against the house branded contests
The shift to champions games took place on Wednesday afternoon.
Shifting Styles in California
Underdog made the transition late Wednesday, a company spokesperson reported. According to the company’s official rules, its champions games works as such:
“Champions is a peer-to-peer fantasy sports contest in which participants create a roster of 2-8 athletes. For each athlete in the roster, participants exercise their knowledge and skill to predict whether the athlete will perform higher or lower than a benchmark statistic. Upon submission, participants are entered into a tournament with other participants. Correct selections earn the participant champions Points. The entry with the most champions Points wins. The final amount participants win depends on how they perform relative to other participants in the tournament.”
The major difference between its champions product and its pick’em contests is users compete against each other in the champions game, while pick’em contests require users to play against the house.
“We brought the peer to peer pick’em game type to the industry, and how now launched our champions game in 20 states. We expect California fans will love playing, which is what we have seen in every other state,” an Underdog spokesperson told Saturday Down South.
PrizePicks also made a similar change in the state on July 2, launching its Arena peer-to-peer games in the state head of Bonta’s released opinion.
Is California DFS Illegal?
The transitions from two of the largest DFS companies in the country was likely stoked from Bonta’s released legal opinion, in which the attorney general made it quite clear that he believed DFS contests were illegal under California law.
Bonta wrote it is a crime if a person “[l]ays, makes, offers or accepts any bet or bets, or wager or wagers, upon the result, or purported result, of any trial, or purported trial, or contest, or purported contest, of skill, speed or power of endurance of person or animal, or between persons, animals, or mechanical apparatus.”
He even went so far as to note there is no difference in his opinion for a pick’em or draft style DFS games, declaring both have no place in the state.
Despite the published opinion, Underdog, PrizePicks, FanDuel, and DraftKings have all continued to offer DFS contests in California.
Robert is an expert on sports betting in the United States, specifically the legalization process and regulation surrounding the industry.
