Florida committee okays daily fantasy sports bill; Massachusetts gets an earful

For the second time in as many weeks, a US state legislative committee has approved a daily fantasy sports bill.

On Tuesday, the Florida House of Representatives’ Business and Professions Subcommittee approved HB 707 by a vote of 10-3. The bill, which was introduced by Reps. Matt Gaetz and Ritch Workman, will now move to the Regulatory Affairs Committee for further vetting.

Similar to the DFS bill approved last week by a California Assembly committee, the legislators who voted in favor of HB 707 did so with caveats that they expect the bill to undergo further revisions – particularly in the areas of operator background checks and conditions for license revocation – before it comes up for a vote on the House floor.

The original draft of HB 707 lacked the fees proscribed under a Senate DFS bill that was introduced in November, but HB 707 was amended in committee to impose a $500k initial license fee with annual renewal fees of $100k, identical to the Senate’s SB 832.