Daily Fantasy Sports Formally Legalized, Regulated and Taxed in Missouri

Missouri has officially become the fourth state in the US to legalize Daily Fantasy Sports, as a recent bill was signed by the state governor. It has passed the resolution as one of the most recent of a growing list of states who have decided Daily Fantasy Sports needed debate. This list includes Indiana Tennessee, Mississippi, and Virginia.

Missouri now recognizes daily fantasy sports as a game of skill, and seeks to regulate and tax daily fantasy sports competitions.

“When a new frontier of online betting is available at the touch of a screen, we have a responsibility to protect consumers and young people,” Missouri Governor Jay Nixon told the Associated Press.

The Missouri Fantasy Sports Consumer Protection Act does what it’s named for: enact a common suite of consumer protections that have also been adopted by the other states who have legalized Daily Fantasy Sports contests. This includes clauses prohibiting daily fantasy sports company employees from participating in contests, bans contests from involving colleges team leagues, as well as high school sports and younger. Daily fantasy sports participants must also be at least 18 years of age--par for the course as far as daily fantasy sports legislation goes.

Yearly licensing for Missouri daily fantasy sports companies will cost $10,000, or 10% of revenue, the lower of the two amounts. An 11.5% tax will also be levied on net revenue for players inside the state. The funds collected will be transferred to Missouri public education budgets.

The bill will come into effect in August of this year.