Smart regulation still needed for fantasy games

I want to respond to your recent editorial on the fantasy sports legislative debate in Springfield, and hopefully reset the discussion moving forward.

More than a year ago, I filed legislation on fantasy sports after seeing the national emergence of DraftKings and FanDuel in major sporting events. A few months later, the industry was under fire around the country, and I worked with the stakeholders on a bill that would create the strongest consumer protections nationally while still encouraging fantasy operators - large and small - to view Illinois as a good place to do business.

At the end of the scheduled spring session last week, there were too many challenges to overcome. My colleagues grew uncomfortable with legislation that, on its face, merely regulated fantasy football, but behind the scenes, turned into an untenable dynamic.

The legacy gaming community, led by the riverboat casinos, worked overtime to block the path for fantasy sports without providing for a meaningful debate for their interests in Internet gaming.

Others who oppose gaming lumped fantasy sports in with casinos, video poker and horse tracks. I emphasized repeatedly that we needed to have a new conversation about how technology, smartphones, and easy access to the Internet once again would force us to confront a difficult policy problem, regardless of the similarities and differences with traditional gaming.

Today, 2 million Illinois players face an uncertain future for fantasy sports. Football season will be here soon, but will they be able to play on Sundays?

The continuous session at the Capitol provides us an opportunity to get this done, and do it right. It will take more votes because we're in overtime, and it will take players making their voices heard. But as your editorial noted, without a legislative solution, these contests will either go unsupervised or go away.

Let's come together behind a real solution to protect players and provide for a certain future for fantasy sports in Illinois.

Rep. Mike Zalewski

Riverside