A08588 Summary:
BILL NO | A08588 |
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SAME AS | No Same As |
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SPONSOR | Murray |
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COSPNSR | Garbarino, Ra, Ceretto, Lupinacci, Raia |
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MLTSPNSR | Thiele |
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Amd S225.00, Pen L | |
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Excludes participation in any fantasy or simulation sports game or educational game or contest meeting certain conditions from the definition of "contest of chance". |
A08588 Actions:
BILL NO | A08588 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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12/02/2015 | referred to codes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
01/06/2016 | referred to codes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
06/06/2016 | held for consideration in codes |
A08588 Memo:
Go to topNEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)   BILL NUMBER: A8588 SPONSOR: Murray (MS)
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the penal law, in relation to excluding participation in any fantasy or simulation sports game or educational game or contest meeting certain conditions from the definition of "contest of chance"   SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: This bill would amend the penal law to classify certain fantasy or simu- lation sports games or contests as games of Skill rather than games of chance, thus creating exempting such contest from the penal law's safe- guards against gambling offenses.   JUSTIFICATION: While I do not believe this bill is necessary, we have introduced this bill in the event that a court finds that daily fantasy sports is gambl- ing. "Daily Fantasy Sports" allow participants to assemble a fantasy team made up of selected athletes from real world sports teams. Partic- ipants pay an entry fee for the contest and based upon the outcome, are then eligible for the prize. This is a game of skill. "Daily Fantasy Sports," such as those made popular by FanDuel and DraftKings, having recently come under scrutiny in New York State. This bill would create an exemption for such daily fantasy sports under the penal law, classifying the game as a contest of skill rather than a contest of chance. Daily fantasy sports are more properly equated to stock or options trading on the U.S. markets than they are gambling since the contests involve skill as the dominating element of success. Such skill is based on, but not limited to, statistical analysis and relevant knowledge of the real world sporting contest. Chance in such a fantasy or simulation sports games or contests is limited to factors such as injuries, weather, or the vicissitudes of sporting events in general, but such chance is not a material element of the fantasy or simulation sports game or contest. In short, the success of a fantasy sports team depends on the participant's skill in selecting players for his or her team. Moreover, in daily fantasy sports, the prize guaranteed to be awarded is known to the participants before the start of the fantasy sporting event, and the prize does not depend on the number of entrants. Facili- tators of daily fantasy sports, such as DraftKings and FanDuel, do not compete for prizes and are indifferent to who wins, unlike the house advantage in traditional contest of chance.   LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: New bill   FISCAL IMPACT ON THE STATE: None.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect immediately.
A08588 Text:
Go to top STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8588 2015-2016 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY December 2, 2015 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. MURRAY, GARBARINO -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to excluding participation in any fantasy or simulation sports game or educational game or contest meeting certain conditions from the definition of "contest of chance" The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 225.00 of the penal law is amended 2 to read as follows: 3 1. "Contest of chance" means any contest, game, gaming scheme or 4 gaming device in which the outcome depends in a material degree upon an 5 element of chance, notwithstanding that skill of the contestants may 6 also be a factor therein. "Contest of chance" shall not include partic- 7 ipation in any fantasy or simulation sports game or educational game or 8 contest in which (if the game or contest involves a team or teams) no 9 fantasy or simulation sports team is based on the current membership of 10 an actual team that is a member of an amateur or professional sports 11 organization (as those terms are defined in section thirty-seven hundred 12 one of title twenty-eight of the United States code) and that meets the 13 following conditions: 14 (a) All prizes and awards offered to winning participants are estab- 15 lished and made known to the participants in advance of the game or 16 contest and their value is not determined by the number of participants 17 or the amount of any fees paid by those participants. 18 (b) All winning outcomes reflect the relative knowledge and skill of 19 the participants and are determined predominantly by accumulated statis- 20 tical results of the performance of individuals (athletes in the case of 21 sports events) in multiple real-world sporting or other events whether 22 on a daily basis or for a predetermined amount of time. 23 (c) No winning outcome is based on the score, point-spread, or any 24 performance or performances of any single real-world team or any combi- 25 nation of such teams; or solely on any single performance of an individ- 26 ual athlete in any single real-world sporting or other event. 27 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD13201-01-5