PrizePicks CEO: 'Companies Like Ours Had to Pick Up the Slack" for DraftKings, FanDuel Abandoning Role
Adam Wexler, CEO of PrizePicks, says it's time to push forward with improved regulation in the Daily Fantasy Sports space.
His company on Wednesday announced a new partnership with ProhiBet, an innovative product offered via partnership between U.S. Integrity and Odds on Compliance.
"After almost a decade in the fantasy sports industry across three products and unlike the offshore illegal operators, operating above board in a regulated industry has always been top of mind," Wexler said via his LinkedIn page. "From acquiring state licenses to payment processing and app store approvals, legal opinions of our ability to operate at the forefront of innovation in the fantasy sports industry have always served as the guide for PrizePicks.
"While great progress was made in the middle of last decade with fantasy sports legislation, DraftKings & FanDuel abandoned further legislation pushes so companies like ours and Underdog had to pick up the baton over the last couple years. We were very happy to be instrumental in codifying fantasy sports with new bills like the one in North Carolina earlier this year."
FanDuel and DraftKings accuse PrizePicks and other hybrid DFS sites are offering a product incorporating player prop bets and parlays that closely mimics sports wagering.
Sites like PrizePicks do not adhere to the same tax structure as the state regulated sportsbooks like FanDuel and DraftKings, both of which also offer a more traditional DFS product.
While Wexler did not address taxation, he readily admits the DFS sector needs better regulation.
"One issue remains though: the industry is still lightly regulated so as the market leader, we have taken it upon ourselves to ensure we continue to raise the bar. A great example of that was our decision to move to 19 & up while all fantasy operators of scale remain at 18.
"With this latest partnership announcement, we wanted to go above & beyond what regulations require and help ensure the integrity of sporting events -- I'm excited to partner with other entrepreneur innovators in the gaming industry like Matthew Holt & Eric Frank. While games like ours increase in popularity, it's important to ensure the players of the game on the field and the players of our game off the field recognize what is permissible.
"We hope the rest of the fantasy sports industry will continue to raise the bar for an industry experiencing a great wave of innovation."
- Gilbert Horowitz, Gambling911.com
