Nevada’s Gaming Control Board ruled today that daily fantasy sports betting constitutes gambling, and thus companies which offer such games must stop until they secure state gambling licenses.
This is one aspect of a bigger story about whether DFS companies are operating within the bounds of U.S. law (both the FBI and the Department of Justice are believed to be investigating the matter), one that affects the video game industry now that prominent operators like DraftKings and FanDuel have added eSports to their lineup of fantasy games upon which you can wager real money.
It potentially affects the livelihood of erstwhile game developers as well — it wasn’t too long ago that FanDuel hired nearly all of the people laid off when Zynga shuttered its Orlando studio as the DFS company rushed to staff up ahead of its busiest time of year: American football season.