Fantasy meet reality
By 
Even the most casual sports fan and many non-fans know the term March Madness refers to the college basketball playoffs, now entering the second week of elimination games leading up to next weekend’s national championship.
But anyone who wants to make a little money on the hoops action through their fantasy sports account had best get in on the games today because tomorrow may be too late. Attorney General Maura Healey is set to issue her final regulations governing daily sports fantasy, making Massachusetts the third state to restrict the websites while still allowing them to operate.
Daily sports fantasy is different from traditional sports betting. It’s somewhat an off-shoot of the increase in statistical analysis used to measure performance in sports. In daily fantasy, participants select a “team” with a salary cap and the statistical performance of those players in games determines who garners the points that determine winners in different contests. Some fantasy games have prizes in excess of $1 million.
Healey, a former college basketball standout who played professionally in Europe, first outlined her proposed regulations last fall when a couple incidents involving employees of Boston-based DraftKings and its competitor, FanDuel of New York, cast an unwelcome spotlight on the possibility of inside information being used to win games.
After a decade of growth spurred by an exemption in the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, states suddenly began paying attention last fall when a DraftKings employee won $350,000 playing on FanDuel on the same day he prematurely released proprietary information that can be helpful to seasoned players. That caught the attention of lawmakers and law enforcement officials around the country.
Since then, 13 states have banned daily fantasy sports as illegal gambling with DraftKings and FanDuel launching legal challenges in the lucrative New York and Texas markets. But those courtroom efforts come with a price and the companies agreed to withdraw their suits and cease operations for the time being, hoping legislators there and elsewhere will craft regulations allowing them to resume operations.
Earlier this month, Virginia and Indiana became the first states to regulate the once-burgeoning industry. Virginia set the floor for playing at 18 while Indiana banned anyone under 21. Both states instituted a $50,000 registration fee for any site to operate, a fee that is unlikely to deter the big players, such as DraftKings, FanDuel, or Yahoo, but could be a bar to any one of the dozen or so smaller daily fantasy operators or the less-lucrative season-long websites.
Healey’s regulations are a lifeline for the faltering industry, especially the hometown DraftKings. Officials at DraftKings had already begun to implement some of Healey’s proposals and a look on the site today finds they’re prepared in Massachusetts, with no college contests offered beyond Thursday’s four Sweet Sixteen games. Other sites, such as Yahoo, had already begun imposing restrictions on themselves in anticipation of emerging regulations. The sites can restrict access by identifying location and fencing off players in those states where it is regulated or banned.
Unlike Virginia and Indiana, Healey is looking to govern the games from a consumer protection angle rather than as gambling. In addition to age restrictions and the college ban, Healey wants to limit how much a player can keep on deposit with the fantasy sites, clearly identify professional players so they won’t butt heads with amateurs, and creating more low-risk, low-reward games for beginners.
Given the lucrative market and the years of unfettered growth – FanDuel and DraftKings last year combined for $3 billion in entry fees despite the growing pressure from states – the companies are not pleased with having their hands and their profits tied. But some profits are better than no profits and you can bet they’ll find a way to thrive.
–JACK SULLIVAN
BEACON HILL
Peabody School Superintendent Herb Levine meets with House Speaker Robert DeLeo on his belief that schools need drug counselors on staff. (Salem News)
A union leader with a history of clashes with Marty Walsh lashes out at the Adele parody video the Boston mayor made for South Boston’s St. Patrick’s Day breakfast, saying it “put him at the feet of a governor with anti-union positions.”
The House approves a bill that lets (most) drug offenders keeps their driver’s licenses after they serve their time. (State House News)
MUNICIPAL MATTERS
Boston Teachers Union representatives walked out of contract talks with city officials yesterday, saying city officials violated confidentiality agreements that had been made by publicly floating the idea of changing the school year calendar. (Boston Globe)
The Boston City Council approves an extension of the Boston Redevelopment Authority’s urban renewal powers. (WBUR)
The Veterans Northeast Outreach Center is buying up properties in Haverhill and simultaneously transforming them into veterans housing and improving the neighborhood. (Eagle-Tribune)
Two Barnstable town councilors say homeless people in the area would be better off being moved off-Cape to places such as Brockton or Plymouth where there are more housing and rehab services available. (Cape Cod Times)
North Adams rolls out a five-year, $37 million infrastructure plan. (Berkshire Eagle)
CASINOS
A report commissioned by the Mashpee Wampanoag says if two casinos operated in the Southeast region, it would cost the state $28 million in lost revenues a year. (Cape Cod Times)
WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL
An investigation of the lead-in-water crisis in Flint, Michigan, finds the state is most responsible. (Governing)
In a blow to the LGBT movement, North Carolina lawmakers pass legislation barring municipalities from passing their own anti-discrimination rules. (Time)
The Disney Co. says it won’t shoot movies in Georgia if the governor signs legislation the company believes would institutionalize discrimination based on sexual preference. (Time)
ELECTIONS
US Rep. Seth Moulton says there are parallels between Donald Trump’s rise and that of Adolph Hitler in 1930s Germany. (Boston Globe)
US Rep. Steve Lynch denounced calls by Trump to ban all Muslims from entering the US and by Ted Cruz for police to “patrol and secure” Muslim neighborhoods in the US. (Boston Herald)
Despite dumping hundreds of millions of dollars into the race so far, super PACs have been remarkably unsuccessful in advancing candidates in the presidential primaries as voters in both parties boost outsider candidates. (Boston Globe)
Trump’s unveiling of his foreign policy team is scaring the bejeezus out of Washington insiders, including many conservatives who say the candidate’s advisors are neophytes and unknowns who have little grasp of the nuance of international relations. (National Review)
With his power play to take control of the party apparatus, Joan Vennochi says Gov. Charlie Baker is now the boss of the state GOP. (Boston Globe)
Politico’s Lauren Dezenski weighs in on the special election for the East Boston-based state Senate seat. Earlier this week, CommonWealth looked at the two women in the seven-way contest, who are shaking up the mix in a race for a seat long held by an Italian-American son of Eastie.
BUSINESS/ECONOMY
Telegram & Gazette columnist Dianne Williamson says the arrival of Chick-fil-A, the fast food chain that “serves sandwiches with a heaping side of homophobia,” proves Worcester loves its chicken chains.
Padlock Therapeutics, a Cambridge biotech company started less than two years ago, is being bought by Bristol-Myers Squibb for $600 million.
A worker died in a seafood processing plant in Boston’s Seaport district following a massive ammonia leak. (Boston Herald)
More housing is on tap at the Dorchester end of the Red Line, as developers file plans for a five-story, 64-unit apartment building across the street from the Ashmont MBTA station. (Boston Herald)
EDUCATION
The Boston School Committee approves a $1 billion budget over protests that some important programming is being cut. (Boston Herald)
The Tewksbury School Committee votes 4-1 to keep the school’s moniker, The Redmen. (The Sun)
HEALTH/HEALTH CARE
The NFL’s concussion studies downplaying the connection between brain trauma and long-term harm were deeply flawed by excluding more than 100 of cases of injuries and using the incomplete data to present studies making them appear less frequent than they actually were. (New York Times)
State regulators are blaming substandard care at a Wilmington nursing home for a second resident’s death there. (Boston Globe)
Heroin-related hospital visits are exploding in Massachusetts. (State House News) So are the number of newborns addicted to opioids. (Boston Business Journal)
A Herald editorial says theft or loss of prescription drugs from hospitals and other facilities is an underappreciated contributor to the opioid crisis in the state.
A Big Brothers Big Sisters official tells what regular people can do to combat the opioid crisis. (CommonWealth)
TRANSPORTATION
CRRC MA USA, the Chinese rail car company, breaks ground on its $95 million Springfield production facility and says workers hired to build 284 Red and Orange line cars for the T will go to China for a year to train. (Masslive)
CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS
A Salem District Court judge releases a woman into Gloucester Police custody for the department’s angel program, but she overdoses the very next day. (Gloucester Times)
A federal judge allows a lawsuit to proceed filed by a Boston man who alleges he was beaten by two Boston police officers with lengthy records of complaints filed against them. (Boston Globe)
A former Pittsfield police officer is charged with stealing more than $220,000 from his union. (Berkshire Eagle)
State Police are investigating a scammer in Tewksbury who was allegedly soliciting donations he said were for the family of Trooper Thomas Clardy, who was killed in an accident last week. (MetroWest Daily News)
An FBI employee was arrested after he allegedly pulled out his gun and pointed it at the head of a woman at a Hingham restaurant where both were drinking at the bar. (Patriot Ledger)
Real friends don’t rob friends: A New Bedford man accepted a Facebook friend request from an ex-classmate from high school he hadn’t seen in years and hours later, the new-found buddy allegedly broke into his house and stole items while kicking the dog for good measure. (Standard-Times)
Auburn Police say a 12-year-old boy told classmates he was going to shoot up his school. (Masslive)
MEDIA
The New Yorker raises concerns about the Hulk Hogan Gawker case.