Massachusetts to tag daily fantasy sports sharks with scarlet letter

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has proposed new consumer protections for daily fantasy sports, including limiting access to players over 21 years of age and forcing sharp players to wear a scarlet letter.

Healey, who announced in September that she was “reviewing” the legal status of Boston-based DFS operator DraftKings, said Thursday that her review was ongoing but she introduced proposed regulations (viewable here) as an immediate response to protect consumers from “games that you carry around with you in your pocket and lose money at the touch of a button.”

Healey said the recommendations will be subject to an open comment period until Jan. 22 but she nonetheless expects DFS operators to immediately begin complying with the new guidelines. Healey ducked the question of whether she’d take legal action against any operator who failed to comply.

It’s unclear how prepared DFS sites are to abide by Healey’s recommendations. FanDuel issued a statement saying Healey’s recommendations made “a tremendous amount of sense” while encouraging “Attorney Generals in all states” to implement similarly “fair regulations.” Both FanDuel and DraftKings are currently locked in a fight to the death with New York AG Eric Schneiderman, who has formally accused the sties of being illegal gambling operations.