Let the Games Of Skill Begin! Illinois’ Anti-Gambling Laws Do Not Apply to Fantasy Sports.

With sports betting and fantasy sports becoming big business, it is inevitable that disputes will arise and court decisions will help shape the industry. In a recent ruling in Illinois known as Dew-Becker v. Wu, the Illinois Supreme Court determined that fantasy sports betting is a game of skill, not of random chance, thus setting it outside the purview of Illinois’ anti-gambling statutes. In the Court’s words, the fantasy sports contest that the litigants played on FanDuel “was not gambling.” Slip Opinion at 6. Of course, this is slightly caveated at the end of the opinion where the Court states:

In so holding, we note that nothing in this opinion should be read as stating that regulation of DFS contests is unnecessary or inappropriate. That determination is for the legislature. We determine here only that the DFS contest at issue in this case does not fall under the current legal definition of gambling. For this reason, we affirm the judgment of the appellate court.

See Slip Opinion at 9. The “legal definition” may not be the same as someone’s personal definition, but it is the legal definition that matters when it comes to legal wrangling.

In what has to be a major step forward—and also validation--for the industry, the majority opinion cited several peer-reviewed studies showing that fantasy sports are dominated by skilled players who understand the relevant sport and statistics in a way that provides them an advantage over unskilled participants. Adopting the “predominant factor test” as the proper measure, the Court concluded that online fantasy sports are predominantly determined by the skill of participants who use knowledge of stats and sports to select a team that will beat their opponent: “Under this test, contests in which the outcome is mathematically more likely to be determined by skill than chance are not considered gambling.” Slip Opinion at 7. The Court then found that online fantasy sports are more likely to be determined by skill than by chance.

This ruling is a big deal for the industry and for fans of fantasy sports. Let the games of skill begin (as soon as we are released from stay-at-home orders)!