CA Opinion No. 23-1001 2025-07-03

Are daily fantasy sports games like DraftKings, FanDuel, and PrizePicks legal in California?

Short answer: No. The Attorney General concluded that daily fantasy sports games (both pick'em-style proposition contests and draft-style salary-cap contests) constitute sports wagering in violation of Penal Code section 337a, regardless of where the operator and its servers are physically located. The conclusion applies whether or not skill predominates over chance.

Disclaimer: This is an official California Attorney General opinion. AG opinions are persuasive authority but not binding precedent. This summary is for informational purposes only and is not legal advice. Consult a licensed California attorney for advice on your specific situation.

Plain-English summary

Daily fantasy sports companies (DraftKings, FanDuel, PrizePicks, Betr, and others) have offered Californians paid contests for years, generally arguing that fantasy sports are skill-based games and therefore outside California's gambling laws. Assemblymember Tom Lackey asked the AG whether California law actually prohibits these games when the players are in California, even if the operator is somewhere else.

The AG said yes, daily fantasy sports games constitute sports wagering under Penal Code section 337a. That statute makes it a crime to lay, make, offer, or accept any bet or wager on the result of any "trial, or contest . . . of skill, speed or power of endurance of person or animal, or between persons." The opinion analyzed two formats:

Pick'em games: A player picks a small slate of athletes, predicts whether each will go over or under a stat line in their next game, and pays an entry fee that wins a fixed multiplier if all predictions hit. The AG treated this as a parlay of proposition bets against the operator (the house). The player and operator each promise money based on uncertain athletic outcomes. Same structural shape as a Las Vegas parlay.

Draft-style salary-cap games: A player drafts a roster of real-world athletes under a salary cap, plays against a pool of other entrants, and wins prizes based on how their roster performs. Even though the operator doesn't directly take the other side of each bet (it's prize-pool style), the AG treated entry fees as bets on the outcome of sporting events. Each player wagers against every other player; whether one wins depends on real athletes' performance in real games.

The opinion rejected three industry defenses: (1) skill predominates over chance (irrelevant to section 337a, which applies to bets even when skill dominates); (2) operators are located out of state (irrelevant; the bet is taken where the player is, even if the technology sits elsewhere); (3) Congress's federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act has a "fantasy sports" carve-out (federal law doesn't preempt California's separate prohibition).

The opinion declined to decide whether daily fantasy sports also violate the lottery prohibition, because the section 337a conclusion is enough.

What this means for you

If you play daily fantasy sports in California

The Attorney General has concluded that daily fantasy sports operations in California are illegal. As a player, you have not historically been the typical enforcement target (Penal Code section 337a's primary focus is on the operators, recorders, and bookmakers), but participation funds an illegal operation, and the legal status of your past winnings is unclear. The opinion doesn't change anything overnight, but operators can be expected to react over time. Watch for changes in app availability, new operator restrictions on California users, or refund/wind-down notifications.

If you operate a daily fantasy sports platform serving California users

This opinion is the AG's clearest statement that your product is illegal in California. It addresses both pick'em and draft-style formats explicitly. Out-of-state operation does not insulate you. Expect:

Renewed pressure on payment processors and app stores to deplatform California-facing services
Potential civil enforcement actions by the AG, district attorneys, or city attorneys
Reputational and investor disclosure consequences

If you want to keep operating in California, the path is statutory. The Legislature could amend section 337a to carve out daily fantasy sports, or California could authorize sports wagering more broadly through constitutional amendment. As of this opinion, neither has happened.

If you are a state legislator

The opinion explicitly invites legislative action: "Any change in current policy and the law that embodies it is a matter for the Legislature." Several bills addressing daily fantasy sports authorization have moved in recent sessions but have not become law. If you want to legalize and regulate (rather than continue prohibition by inaction), you'll need both statutory amendment of Penal Code section 337a and likely a constitutional amendment under article IV, section 19, depending on the structure.

If you are a sportsbook operator considering California entry

California is a non-sports-wagering state. This opinion confirms that. Until the Constitution and statutes change, operations from any U.S. or offshore platform serving California players are exposed to enforcement. Even if you're licensed in another state, that license does not confer authority to serve California users.

If you are a tribal gaming authority

The opinion reaffirms the existing California gambling structure: prohibition under section 337a, with exceptions for the State Lottery, charitable bingo, parimutuel horse racing, and tribal gaming under federal compacts. Daily fantasy sports does not fit within any tribal compact. The opinion does not address whether tribes could operate fantasy sports under their existing compacts; that's a separate analysis.

If you are a payment processor or app marketplace

Payment processors and app stores typically deplatform services that violate state law in their served jurisdiction. This AG opinion is concrete grounds for those decisions in California. Expect operator-by-operator review.

If you are a journalist or policy researcher

This opinion is the most authoritative California-specific analysis to date. It explicitly disagrees with the operators' "skill-based" defense and aligns with regulators in Virginia, Arizona, Wyoming, and Florida that have reached the same pick'em conclusion. Note also the AG's careful narrowing: it doesn't reach all fantasy sports formats (season-long fantasy with low stakes among friends is plainly distinguishable), and it doesn't reach the lottery analysis.

Background and statutory framework

California has prohibited gambling activities since statehood. The Constitution at article IV, section 19 prohibits lotteries (with exceptions for the State Lottery, charitable bingo, and nonprofit raffles), prohibits Las Vegas-style casinos, and authorizes the Legislature to regulate horse racing and tribal gaming.

Penal Code section 337a is the State's primary sports-wagering prohibition, enacted in 1909 in response to addiction and financial-ruin concerns associated with horse-race betting. Subdivision (a)(6) makes it a crime if a person "[l]ays, makes, offers or accepts any bet or bets, or wager or wagers, upon the result, or purported result, of any trial, or purported trial, or contest, or purported contest, of skill, speed or power of endurance of person or animal, or between persons, animals, or mechanical apparatus."

The California Supreme Court has defined bets and wagers as "promises to give money or money's worth upon the determination of an uncertain or unascertained event in a particular way" (Western Telcon, Inc. v. California State Lottery (1996) 13 Cal.4th 475). The Court also held that, "unlike a lottery," betting "may involve skill or judgment." So section 337a applies regardless of whether skill predominates.

Pari-mutuel wagering on horse races is a constitutional exception (article IV, section 19(b)). Pick'em games are not. Draft-style games operate via player-versus-player prize pools rather than house-versus-player books, but the AG treated the entry fees as bets on the outcomes of the sporting events.

The opinion rejected geography-based defenses. Section 337a applies wherever the bet is taken, which includes the location of the player. Operators with technology and incorporation in other states still take bets in California when California players use the platform.

Common questions

What about season-long fantasy leagues with my friends, where we put $20 each in a pot at the start of the year?
The opinion explicitly does not reach that scenario. The reasoning suggests low-stakes season-long contests among acquaintances may sit on different ground (no commercial operator, no sportsbook structure). The opinion focuses on the commercial daily fantasy sports industry. Don't take this as legal clearance for all small private leagues, but the opinion's analysis is built around the for-profit operator model.

What about free-to-play fantasy contests with no entry fee?
Section 337a requires a "bet" or "wager," which the Western Telcon framework defines as a promise of money or money's worth tied to an uncertain event. No entry fee usually means no wager. Free-to-play formats are typically lawful, though specific structures (like "freerolls" that purport to be free but are tied to paid play elsewhere) require their own analysis.

Are pick'em and draft-style operators the only ones affected?
The opinion addresses pick'em and draft-style specifically because those are the two dominant formats. Other paid fantasy sports formats (best-ball drafts, simulated drafts, hybrid formats) would need their own analysis but would likely come out the same way under the same logic.

What's the penalty for operating?
Section 337a violations are misdemeanors with escalating penalties. Civil enforcement is also available. Each "bet" can constitute a separate violation, so daily operations can rack up substantial liability.

Does the federal Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) protect fantasy sports?
UIGEA carves out fantasy sports from its definition of "bet or wager" for federal purposes, but federal law does not preempt state prohibitions. California's section 337a operates independently. UIGEA's carve-out doesn't help operators against California enforcement.

Could the AG bring enforcement immediately?
The AG could, but this opinion is "persuasive authority but not binding precedent." Practical enforcement decisions involve prosecutorial discretion, civil enforcement priorities, and resource allocation. The opinion's main effect is putting operators, payment processors, and app stores on notice.

Will daily fantasy sports become legal in California?
That's a legislative and constitutional question. As of the opinion's publication, no California statute authorizes daily fantasy sports. Multiple ballot measures and bills have been proposed and failed in recent years. Watch the Legislature and any future ballot initiatives.

What about tribal gaming compacts?
Tribal gaming operates under federal compacts that authorize specific activities on tribal lands. The opinion doesn't analyze whether existing compacts cover daily fantasy sports; that question requires a separate compact-specific analysis. Some tribes have signaled interest in offering sports wagering under future compact amendments.

Citations

Penal Code section 337a, subdivision (a)(6) (sports wagering prohibition)
Penal Code section 319 et seq. (lotteries)
California Constitution article IV, section 19 (gambling and lottery framework)
Business & Professions Code section 19400 et seq. (pari-mutuel horse racing exception)
Western Telcon, Inc. v. California State Lottery (1996) 13 Cal.4th 475 (defining "bet" and distinguishing from "lottery")
Ex parte McDonald (1927) 86 Cal.App. 362 (defining "bet")
People v. Postma (1945) 69 Cal.App.2d Supp. 814 (horse-race wagering as betting)

Source

Landing page: https://oag.ca.gov/opinions/yearly-index
Original PDF: https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/opinions/pdfs/23-1001_2.pdf

Original opinion text

TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
State of California
ROB BONTA
Attorney General

OPINION
of
ROB BONTA
Attorney General
KARIM J. KENTFIELD
Deputy Attorney General

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No. 23-1001
July 3, 2025

The HONORABLE TOM LACKEY, MEMBER OF THE STATE ASSEMBLY,
has requested an opinion on a question relating to the legality of “daily fantasy sports”
games.
QUESTION PRESENTED AND CONCLUSION
Does California law prohibit the operation of daily fantasy sports games with
players physically located within California, regardless of whether the operators and
associated technology are located outside the State?
Yes, California law prohibits the operation of daily fantasy sports games with
players physically located within California, regardless of where the operators and
associated technology are located. Such games constitute wagering on sports in violation
of Penal Code section 337a.

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BACKGROUND
California and other States have long regulated attempts to win money based on
the outcome of sporting events. 1 This opinion concerns a modern variation on that
activity, known as daily fantasy sports, in which participants try to win money based on
the performance of selected professional or collegiate athletes in real-world sports games.
To place daily fantasy sports in context, we will first describe traditional forms of sports
wagering—which California law generally prohibits, but many other States now allow. 2
We will then describe the operation of daily fantasy games.
Traditional Sports Betting
In traditional sports wagering, participants pay for the chance to win money based
on the performance of third-party athletes. Modern sportsbooks allow wagering on a
variety of sports. In Nevada, for instance, bettors can wager on football, basketball,
baseball, golf, tennis, and horse racing, among other professional and collegiate sports. 3
Once a sport is selected, wagering can focus on any game attribute. Bettors may
attempt to predict which player or team will win, or by how many points. 4 Or they can
place what is known as a “proposition” bet, where they predict results other than the final
score. 5 In basketball, for instance, a bettor might predict whether a particular player will
score at least 20 points in a game, or whether a player in one game will collect more
rebounds than a player in a different game. Online sportsbooks also offer a wide array of
“in-game” proposition bets, in which bettors act in real time to predict the result of an
upcoming play. 6

See generally Davies & Abram, Betting the Line: Sports Wagering in American Life
(2001) (Betting the Line).

See generally American Gaming Association, State of the States 2024 (May 2, 2024),
p. 2, https://www.americangaming.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/AGA-State-of-theStates-2024.pdf (sports wagering is legal in dozens of States).
2

See Cabot & Miller, Sports Wagering in America: Policies, Economics, and Regulation
(2018) pp. 1-5 (Sports Wagering in America).

See id. at pp. 5-17; Betting the Line, supra, at p. 172.

See Sports Wagering in America, supra, at p. 22; Betting the Line, supra, at p. 176.

See generally Funt, Watching the Super Bowl? Bettor Beware, Wall Street Journal (Feb.
11, 2023) (reporting analyst’s prediction that in-game betting would soon account for the
“overwhelming majority” of U.S. sportsbook revenue).

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Bets may also be stacked into a “parlay” wager, where a bettor makes multiple
predictions. 7 Horse-race wagering, for example, offers “exotic” parlay bets such as the
“daily double” and “pick six,” which require the bettor to predict the winners of two or
six races, respectively. 8 Sportsbooks may also offer long-term “futures bets,” such as
predicting which team will win the championship at the end of a season. 9
Sports bettors may wager against the sportsbook operator itself or against other
bettors. In bets placed against the operator, the sportsbook has a financial stake in the
outcome: if the player wins the bet, then the operator loses, and vice versa. 10 Payouts are
commonly fixed by the operators in advance based on their assessment of likely
outcomes. 11 Alternatively, bettors may wager against other participants. In pari-mutuel
betting on horse races, for example, the operator acts as a neutral facilitator: collecting
bets from all players, retaining a portion for itself, and paying out the remainder to the
winners. 12 Payouts in the pari-mutuel system fluctuate based on the amounts wagered
and the number of participants who select the winning outcome. 13
As these examples illustrate, traditional sports wagering can take many forms.
Indeed, to satisfy the public’s desire for “product diversity and new forms of wagering,”
sportsbooks “have increasingly offered their customers a veritable smorgasbord of
wagering gimmicks.” 14 Whatever the formula, the determination of who wins or loses is
“based on a future contingent event”—namely, the “outcome of the sports
competition”—that is “not under the control of the sportsbook or the bettor.” 15
See Betting the Line, supra, at p. 172 (“A parlay is a series of two or more bets set up in
advance so that the original bet plus its winnings are risked on successive bets”).
7

Sports Wagering in America, supra, at p. 25.

See Betting the Line, supra, at pp. 178-179.

See id. at p. 171 (explaining that if the sportsbook does not manage its risk properly
across all wagers, then it “is at risk for a loss—sometimes major”).
10

See Sports Wagering in America, supra, at pp. 5-23 (discussing different types of
wagers and payout structures); Betting the Line, supra, at pp. 170-179 (same). For
example, in a parlay bet requiring the participant to correctly predict the results of three
different football games—a difficult task—the sportsbook might promise to pay a winner
$600 for every $100 wagered.

See Sports Wagering in America, supra, at pp. 25-26.

See ibid.; Betting the Line, supra, at pp. 169-170.

Betting the Line, supra, at p. 174; see, e.g., id. at pp. 174-176 (describing “teaser” and
“pleaser” parlay bets).
14

Sports Wagering in America, supra, at p. 5.
3

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Daily Fantasy Sports
Like traditional sports wagering, daily fantasy sports games enable participants to
win or lose money based on the outcome of sporting events played by third-party
athletes. Many daily fantasy sports variations are available. We will focus on the two
most popular formats: “draft style” games and “pick’em” games. 16
Draft Style Games. In traditional draft style fantasy sports games, each player
selects a team of real-world athletes from a designated sports league, such as the National
Football League or the National Basketball Association. In drafting their team, fantasy
players may face constraints. For example, they may have to select athletes from
different positions or different real-world teams. Once drafting is complete, players
accumulate fantasy points based on their selected athletes’ performance in real-world
sporting events—such as runs batted in by a baseball player, or rebounds collected by a
basketball player. Players compete against each other to accumulate the highest
aggregate point total. As in traditional sports wagering, fantasy players do not compete
in sporting events themselves and are not permitted to influence the sports competitions
that determine the game winners.
Fantasy sports originated with season-long competitions, often organized among
friends with low financial stakes. 17 In this type of game, players select a roster of
professional athletes before the sports season begins. Each week of the season, players
then select a subset of their athletes as their “starting lineup” and earn fantasy points
based on their lineup’s performance that week. Players may be able to alter their roster
during the season by acquiring new athletes, or trading athletes with other players. The
winning player is determined at the end of the season.
The request here concerns a newer game variation known as daily fantasy sports.
As with the season-long version, daily fantasy players seek to win prizes by selecting a
team of real-world athletes with the strongest performance in upcoming sporting events.
Unlike season-long contests, however, daily fantasy competitions are decided by each
athlete’s performance in a single game. As a result, daily fantasy winners can often be
determined in a few days to a week.
Draft style daily fantasy games may use various methods for players to draft their
roster of athletes. One common method is a “salary cap draft,” in which the operator
assigns each athlete a salary based on the athlete’s expected performance. Each daily
Our description of daily fantasy game mechanics is based on the information provided
to us by various game operators.
16

See generally Berry, Untold stories of 40 years of fantasy baseball, ESPN (Mar. 4,
2020), https://www.espn.com/fantasy/baseball/story/_/id/28838799/untold-stories-40years-fantasy-baseball.
17

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fantasy player then selects a team of athletes whose total salary in the aggregate is below
a specified limit, the “salary cap.” Players draft their teams independently, and a given
athlete may be selected by multiple players. In other games, players may select athletes
using a different procedure such as a “snake draft” or an “auction draft.” 18 Whatever
method is used, once a player has picked athletes, those selections are locked in and there
are no further decisions to make. The winning players are then determined by the onfield performance of the selected athletes in their next single sporting event.
Multiple service providers currently offer draft style daily fantasy games in
California. Those providers hold games on their websites, and players access them via
computer or mobile device. Game formats vary widely. Some games allow hundreds or
thousands of entrants, while others are limited to two players competing “head-to-head.”
Games may pay large prizes to only the highest-scoring players—sometimes as large as
$1 million—or they may pay small prizes to a greater percentage of participants. Game
operators typically charge a fixed entry fee, which may range from a few dollars to
hundreds or even thousands of dollars. And they typically pay pre-announced prizes,
regardless of how many players enter. The prize payouts reflect the total expected entry
fees paid minus a fee retained by the operator. 19
Pick’em Games. In recent years, a second style of daily fantasy contest known as
pick’em has emerged. In this variation, a player selects a “team” of real-world athletes,
typically two to five. The player must then predict each athlete’s performance in a single
upcoming game on a specified metric, such as points scored or rebounds collected in a
basketball game. The operator provides a threshold number in the selected category—for
example, 20 points or 7 rebounds—and the player must predict whether the athlete will
perform above or below that threshold. Players typically must select athletes from
multiple real-world teams and cannot use the same athlete in multiple predictions.
In traditional pick’em games, players compete “against the house”—the
operator—not against other players as in the draft style games. Players pay an entry fee
of any amount and win a prize if they make all predictions correctly (or almost all, in
certain variations). The operator calculates prizes based on the size of the entry fee and
In a “snake draft,” players select athletes in a specified order, with the draft order
reversing every round. In an “auction draft,” players are given a fictional budget to bid
on athletes.
18

The following example, based on a real draft style daily fantasy game offered on July
12, 2024, is illustrative. The operator charged a $15 entry fee and set a maximum of
7,843 entrants. Each player could enter up to 150 separate times. The operator
guaranteed that $100,000 in prizes would be distributed, regardless of the number of
entrants. Prizes began at $20,000 for first place, decreasing to $35 for finishing between
701st and 1835th place. If the operator sold all available entries, it would have retained
approximately 15% of the entry fees after paying all prizes.
19

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the number of predictions attempted. For example, in one operator’s game, paying a
$100 entry fee will win $300 for two correct predictions, $500 for three correct
predictions, and $1,000 for four correct predictions.
This opinion request asks whether California law prohibits offering daily fantasy
sports games to players physically located within the State. Because the request does not
specify any particular daily fantasy variant, we will focus our analysis on the widely
available game formats described above.
ANALYSIS
Since becoming a State, California has regulated gambling activities. 20 Today,
Article IV, section 19 of the state Constitution prohibits lotteries and the sale of lottery
tickets, subject to exceptions including the California State Lottery, charitable bingo
games, and nonprofit raffles. 21 Section 19 also directs the Legislature to prohibit
“casinos of the type currently operating in Nevada and New Jersey.” 22 But section 19
authorizes the Governor to negotiate compacts with federally recognized Indian tribes to
operate certain gambling activities on tribal lands. 23 And section 19 also authorizes the
Legislature to regulate horse racing and horse-race wagering. 24
Consistent with the Constitution, the Legislature has “prohibited certain forms of
gambling and allowed others.” 25 Subject to various exceptions, the Penal Code prohibits
“three key forms of gambling”: “gaming, lotteries and betting.” 26 “Gaming may be
defined as the playing of any game for stakes hazarded by the players.” 27 “A lottery may
be defined as a distribution of prizes by lot or chance” for consideration. 28 And betting
“may be defined as promises to give money or money’s worth upon the determination of
an uncertain or unascertained event in a particular way, and (unlike a lottery) may
20

See 71 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 139, 141 (1988).

See Cal. Const., art. IV, § 19, subds. (a), (c), (d), (f).

Id., subd. (e).

Id., subd. (f).

Id., subd. (b).

71 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen., supra, at p. 141.

Western Telcon, Inc. v. California State Lottery (1996) 13 Cal.4th 475, 484, internal
quotation marks omitted (Western Telcon); see Penal Code, Part 1, Title 9, Chapters 9-10.
26

Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 484, internal quotation marks omitted; see
Penal Code, § 330 et seq.

Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at pp. 484-485, internal quotation marks omitted;
see Penal Code, § 319 et seq.

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involve skill or judgment.” 29 Gambling activities that are not prohibited by the Penal
Code are permitted in compliance with state and local regulation. 30
We received numerous public comments arguing that daily fantasy sports either
are or are not prohibited by various constitutional and statutory provisions. In line with
most comments, we will focus on two provisions: (1) Penal Code section 337a, which
prohibits wagering on sports, and (2) Penal Code section 319 et seq., which prohibit
lotteries. We conclude that daily fantasy sports games constitute sports wagering and
therefore violate section 337a. While we are unable to conclude whether such games
also violate the lottery prohibition—because that analysis would require making factual
determinations outside the scope of an Attorney General legal opinion—it is unnecessary
to resolve the latter question in light of our conclusion that California law independently
prohibits such games under section 337a. 31
Daily Fantasy Sports Games Violate Penal Code Section 337a Because They Involve
Betting on Sports
California law prohibits betting or wagering on sporting events. 32 Under Penal
Code section 337a(a)(6), it is a crime if a person
[l]ays, makes, offers or accepts any bet or bets, or wager or wagers, upon the result,
or purported result, of any trial, or purported trial, or contest, or purported contest,
of skill, speed or power of endurance of person or animal, or between persons,
animals, or mechanical apparatus.
Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 485, internal quotation marks and alterations
omitted; see Penal Code, § 337a.

See generally Bus. & Prof. Code, § 19800 et seq. (Gambling Control Act); Western
Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 482, fn. 2, citing In re Hubbard (1964) 62 Cal.2d 119,
123-128 (state law does not preempt all local regulation of gambling activities).
30

Similarly, given our conclusion that section 337a prohibits daily fantasy sports games,
we need not consider whether they might violate other legal provisions that regulate
gambling activities. (See, e.g., Cal. Const., art. IV, § 19, subd. (e) [“The Legislature has
no power to authorize, and shall prohibit, casinos of the type currently operating in
Nevada and New Jersey”]; Penal Code, § 330 [prohibiting “any banking or percentage
game played with cards, dice, or any device, for money”]; id., §§ 330a, 330b, 330.1
[prohibiting certain gambling devices].)

As an exception, California law permits pari-mutuel wagering on horse races. (See
Bus. & Prof. Code, § 19400 et seq.) Although section 337a originally prohibited all
forms of sports betting including wagering on horse races, the voters later amended the
state Constitution to permit horse-race wagering. (See Cal. Const., art. IV, § 19, subd.
(b).)
32

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The California Supreme Court has defined bets or wagers “as promises to give money or
money’s worth upon the determination of an uncertain or unascertained event in a
particular way.” 33 And “unlike a lottery,” which as discussed below requires that chance
predominate over skill, betting “may involve skill or judgment.” 34 Section 337a also
prohibits related offenses, such as recording bets and bookmaking. 35
We conclude that participants in both types of daily fantasy sports games—
pick’em and draft style games—make “bets” on sporting events in violation of section
337a. We discuss the two game formats in turn.
Pick’em Games
In pick’em, players try to win money by predicting the performance of individual
athletes in a single real-world game—for example, whether Steph Curry will score more
or fewer than 20 points, or whether Jimmy Butler will grab more or fewer than 7
rebounds. We conclude that pick’em violates section 337a because the game’s entry fees
are “bets” or “wagers” placed “upon the result . . . of [a] trial . . . or contest . . . of skill,
speed or power of endurance of person . . . or between persons.” 36
As with many traditional sportsbook bets, pick’em players place a bilateral wager
against the game operator. The player and operator each “promise[] to give money . . .
upon the determination of an uncertain or unascertained event” (the sports competitions)
being resolved “in a particular way” (whether the player’s predictions of athletic

Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 485, internal quotation marks and alterations
omitted; see also Ex parte McDonald (1927) 86 Cal.App. 362, 367 (citing Black’s Law
Dictionary to define a “bet” as “an agreement between two or more persons that a sum of
money or other valuable thing shall become the sole property of one or more of them on
the happening in the future of an event at present uncertain”); ibid. (“bet” and “wager”
are synonyms); CALCRIM No. 2996 (defining “bet” as an “agreement between two or
more people that if an uncertain future event happens, the loser will pay money to the
winner or give the winner something of value”; a “bet includes a wager made on the
outcome of any actual or purported event, including . . . any kind of sporting contest”).
33

Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 485, internal quotation marks omitted; see post,
fns. 161-167 (discussing lottery elements).

See Penal Code, § 337a, subd. (a)(1)-(5); CALCRIM No. 2990 (“Bookmaking includes
the taking of bets, either orally or recorded in writing”); CALCRIM No. 2994
(“Recording a bet means making a notation on paper, or using any other material or
device, to allow winnings on the bet to be distributed in the future”); People v. Lomento
(1957) 155 Cal.App.2d 740, 742.
35

Penal Code, § 337a, subd. (a)(6).
8

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performance are correct). 37 Like other kinds of wagers, both parties have a financial
stake “in the outcome of the game, because the amount of money the operator will have
to pay out depends upon whether each of the individual [player’s] bets is won or lost.” 38
And the real-world sporting events clearly constitute “trial[s]” or “contest[s] . . . of skill,
speed or power of endurance of person . . . or between persons.” 39 Section 337a(a)(6)
therefore applies. Indeed, pick’em appears materially indistinguishable from a classic
form of sports wagering: a “parlay” or combination of proposition bets over different
game outcomes. 40
Our conclusion is consistent with the view of out-of-state regulators. Regulators
in Virginia, Arizona, Wyoming, and Florida, for example, have all concluded that state
laws regulating sports wagering apply to pick’em. 41 As the Arizona Department of
Gaming explained, the games are simply a type of “proposition bet[ting].” 42 We are not
aware of any out-of-state regulator to reach a contrary conclusion.
The pick’em operators offer several arguments that section 337a does not apply,
but we are not persuaded. First, the operators contend that skill predominates over
chance in pick’em—that is, that success in pick’em depends more on skill and judgment
than luck or chance. As discussed below, this argument is directly relevant to a lottery
analysis: for a game to be prohibited as a lottery under California law, chance must
predominate over skill. 43 But that is not a requirement for a “bet” or “wager” under
section 337a: the California Supreme Court has explained that, “unlike a lottery,” betting
or wagering “may involve skill or judgment.” 44 The operators have not cited a single
authority construing section 337a(a)(6) to require that chance predominates. 45 Nor are
Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 485, internal quotation marks omitted; see ante,
fn. 33 (citing similar definitions of a “bet” or “wager”).

Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 488 (distinguishing a bilateral wager from a
prize, where the operator has no financial stake in who wins).

Penal Code, § 337a, subd. (a)(6).

See ante, fns. 5-8 (describing traditional proposition bets and parlays).

See, e.g., 2023 Ops.Va.Atty.Gen. 133 (Dec. 12, 2023); Wyoming Gaming
Commission, letter to PrizePicks, July 5, 2023, on file; Florida Gaming Control
Commission, letter to Betr, Sept. 19, 2023, on file.

Arizona Department of Gaming, letter to Arizona Fantasy Sports Contest Operators,
Nov. 1, 2023, on file.

See post, fns. 161-167.

Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 485, internal quotation marks omitted.

The primary authorities cited by the operators do not even concern section 337a. (See,
(continued…)
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we aware of any authorities imposing such a requirement, either in California or any
other State with similar laws. 46 Rather, the essential requirement of a “bet” or “wager” is
that participants win or lose based on the outcome of an uncertain future event, such as a
sports competition, even if skilled bettors consistently come out ahead. 47
That understanding reflects the statute’s purpose. The Legislature enacted section
337a in 1909 out of concern that horse-race wagering had resulted in addiction and
financial ruin. 48 The statute’s proponents denounced “the ruinous effect of . . . racetrack
gambling,” which led some patrons to “steal[] from their employers in order to gamble at
the races.” 49 Proponents likened racetrack betting to an “infectious disease,” “easily
e.g., Knowles v. O’Connor (1968) 266 Cal.App.2d 31, 33 [discussing the chance
requirement for slot machines under Penal Code sections 330b and 330.5].)
See, e.g., CALCRIM No. 2996 (jury instructions for a section 337a(a)(6) violation,
which do not require proving that chance dominates); People v. Postma (1945) 69
Cal.App.2d Supp. 814, 817-818 (concluding that horse-race wagering constituted betting
without deciding whether skill or chance predominated).
46

See Penal Code, § 337a, subd. (a)(6); ante, fn. 33.

See Stats. 1909, ch. 28, § 1, p. 21 (enacting section 337a); see also Stats. 1911, ch. 7,
§ 1, p. 4 (amending § 337a to add former subd. 6., now subd. (a)(6)). Although we are
not aware of any legislative history from section 337a’s enactment, the statute’s purpose
is well documented in the historical record. (See post, fns. 49-51; e.g., People v.
Martinez (2023) 15 Cal.5th 326, 350, fn. 16 [relying on work of historians and
contemporaneous newspaper articles to aid in interpretation of a California regulation];
Comm. of the Rts. of the Disabled v. Swoap (1975) 48 Cal.App.3d 505, 511 [courts can
consider the “historical background” of statutes]; McGarrahan v. Maxwell (1865) 28 Cal.
75, 95 [courts may look “‘to the public history of the time in which [a statute] was
passed’”].) Section 337a’s purpose is also reflected in case law preceding its enactment.
(E.g., Gridley v. Dorn (1880) 57 Cal. 78, 79 [betting on horse races was “against good
morals or sound public policy” because betting “‘tends directly to beget a desire of
possessing another’s money or property’”]; Hankins v. Ottinger (1896) 115 Cal. 454, 458
[the “gain and loss between the parties” in betting can “excite a spirit of cupidity,”
internal quotation marks and italics omitted]; cf. Tak Chun Gaming Promotion Co. v.
Long (2023) 96 Cal.App.5th 1027, 1039 [common law anti-gambling rules were intended
to discourage the “financially ruinous consequences” of gambling debts].) And although
the Legislature has amended section 337a on a few occasions—for example, to modify
the penalties—it has not altered the section’s substantive reach in any relevant respect.
Accordingly, authorities from the era when the section was enacted continue to illuminate
the Legislature’s intent.
48

To Fight Gambling On Races, Los Angeles Evening Express (Dec. 17, 1908) p. 1,
(continued…)
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caught and exceedingly hard to shake off.” 50 And they cautioned that bettors who lost
might wager increasing amounts in a futile attempt to recover their losses. 51 These
adverse outcomes are all possible even if sports wagering is a skill-dominant activity,
such as if success depends on skillfully analyzing prior athlete performance, matchups, or
weather conditions. Indeed, if skill did predominate, concerns about bettors chasing their
losses to financial ruin would be exacerbated because less skillful bettors would
consistently lose. Moreover, some authorities have concluded that skill predominates in
racetrack betting and other types of traditional sports wagering. 52 Reading section 337a
to apply only if chance predominates could therefore risk legalizing forms of ordinary
sports betting that the Legislature intended to prohibit. For these reasons, whether or not
skill predominates in wagering on horse races, football games, or pick’em, section
337a(a)(6) applies. 53
Second, the operators emphasize that pick’em game winners are determined not
based on the overall winner of sports games, but by other game attributes—such as an
individual athlete’s point total or rebounds collected. They argue that section 337a(a)(6)
col. 7, p. 2, col. 2 (quoting Arthur Letts); see Kilner, Arthur Letts, 1862-1923 (1927)
pp. 230-232 (documenting work of Letts and his Business Men’s Anti-Racetrack
Gambling League of Southern California to spearhead law’s enactment); see also Out To
Fight Gambling At Race Tracks, Los Angeles Herald (Dec. 28, 1908) p. 8, cols. 1-2.
Racetrack Gambling, San Jose Mercury News (Jan. 11, 1909) p. 6, col. 1 (editorial);
see The Gambling Evil, Los Angeles Herald (Apr. 18, 1909) p. 4, col. 2 (editorial
supporting statute) (“Race track gambling . . . has been responsible for broken hearts,
wrecked homes, ruined lives. It has made defaulters and criminals of men who . . .
[were] gripped by the gambling fascination”).
50

To Fight Gambling On Races, Los Angeles Evening Express, supra, p. 2, cols. 2-3 (“A
man goes innocently to see the races . . . . He bets a dollar and loses it, and then he has
two up. Next he is betting his employer’s money in the mad hope that he will get back
what he has lost”); see also Dangers In All Forms of Gambling, Los Angeles Evening
Express (Feb. 13, 1909) p. 1, col. 7, p. 4, col. 1 (Arthur Letts) (“The temptation is so
great. It is so easy to begin . . . . The loss is slight at first, but it grows and grows, and
the loser, bent on regaining his losses, strains every energy to win”).
51

See, e.g., People v. Postma, supra, 69 Cal.App.2d Supp. at p. 817 (describing the
majority view of out-of-state authorities that skill predominates in betting on horse races);
Ops.W.Va.Atty.Gen., 2016 WL 3857081, 5-6 (July 7, 2016) (describing prior Attorney
General opinion that skill predominates in traditional sports betting).
52

Accord, e.g., Ops.Miss.Atty.Gen., 2016 WL 695680, 2, 4 (Jan. 29, 2016) (the
existence of skill in picking a fantasy team was irrelevant to whether daily fantasy
violated state law prohibiting sports wagering); Nev.Atty.Gen.Memo., Legality of Daily
Fantasy Sports Under Nevada Law, at pp. 6-7 (Oct. 16, 2015) (similar).
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therefore does not apply because the statute prohibits betting only on the “result” of a
sporting event. We disagree. Dictionaries define “result” as a “consequence or
outcome.” 54 In our view, a sports competition has many “consequences” or “outcomes.”
Some of those outcomes determine the game winner, such as the relative point totals
scored by each team. Many other outcomes do not determine the game winner, such as
the points scored by individual players. The operators have not provided any definition
of “result” that would limit the term to the former type of “consequence” or “outcome,”
but not the latter. Nor have they cited any authority construing section 337a or any
similar statute to prohibit wagering on only the game winner or loser—that is, to allow
proposition betting. 55
Such a reading would also be inconsistent with both common understanding and
statutory purpose. As described above, proposition betting on game results other than the
winner is a widely available form of traditional sports wagering. By one estimate, ingame proposition betting—such as predicting the result of the next play—may soon
account for a majority of online sportsbook revenues. 56 In our view, if the Legislature
had intended to allow such an enormous category of traditional sports wagering, it would
have done so more clearly. That conclusion is also consistent with the statute’s policy
concerns: to prevent addiction and financial harm. 57 We are not aware of any authority
indicating that these risks are materially different for proposition betting than for other
forms of sports wagering. If anything, the rapid nature of in-game proposition betting—
where bets are placed on an upcoming play and resolved in minutes, if not seconds—
might make addiction risks especially acute.
Third, the operators cite an out-of-state decision, Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc. v.
Gibson, where the Nevada Supreme Court held that a golf course that offered a prize to
any person who paid an entry fee and shot a hole in one did not engage in wagering. 58
American Heritage Dict. (5th ed. 2018) p. 1497 [“result”]; see also, e.g., Oxford
English Dict. (updated through June 2025) [“result”] (“The effect, consequence, or
outcome of some action, process, or design, etc.”).
54

Section 337a can also be understood to prohibit proposition betting in a different way.
The section prohibits wagering “upon the result . . . of any trial . . . or contest . . . of skill,
speed or power of endurance of person . . . or between persons.” (Penal Code, § 337a,
subd. (a)(6), italics added.) Nothing in the statute limits the relevant “trial” or “contest”
to the overall event winner. Rather, a sports game could involve many “trial[s] . . . of
skill . . . of person,” such as whether Steph Curry will score more or fewer than 20 points,
or Jimmy Butler will collect more or fewer than 7 rebounds. A proposition bet on the
“result” of such a trial would then fall within the statute’s reach.
55

See ante, fn. 6.

See ante, fns. 48-53.

Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc. v. Gibson (1961) 77 Nev. 25, 29.
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The Court reasoned that the prize was a “reward or recompense for some act done” (the
golf shot) and therefore not a “wager,” which is “a stake upon an uncertain event.” 59
Analogizing to Gibson, the operators argue that the prizes in pick’em are also awarded as
a “reward or recompense for some act done”: the “act” of correctly predicting the
outcome of third-party sports games. 60 But applying that reasoning, any bilateral wager
could be reconstrued as a “reward” for the “act” of correctly forecasting an uncertain
event. 61 That would effectively legalize all wagering, contrary to the Legislature’s intent
in enacting section 337a. Accordingly, even assuming that a court applying California
law to a hole-in-one prize would reach the same conclusion as Gibson, the reasoning of
that case cannot be extended to pick’em games. The Office of the Nevada Attorney
General has similarly concluded that fantasy sports are distinguishable from the game at
issue in Gibson. 62
Fourth, the operators cite a federal statute, the Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA). 63 “UIGEA makes it illegal for a ‘person engaged in
the business of betting or wagering’ knowingly to accept certain financial payments from
an individual who is engaged in ‘unlawful Internet gambling.’” 64 Although the statute
defines a “bet or wager” to include “risking . . . something of value upon the outcome of
. . . a sporting event . . . upon an agreement . . . [to] receive something of value in the
event of a certain outcome,” it excludes from the definition participation in “fantasy or
simulation sports game[s]” meeting certain criteria. 65 The operators argue that the
pick’em games fall within that exclusion.
But UIGEA’s definition of “bet or wager” has no bearing on Penal Code section
337a. UIGEA expressly states that “[n]o provision of [the statute] shall be construed as
59

Ibid.

See Nev.Atty.Gen.Memo., supra, at p. 11 (“In the case of daily fantasy sports, the
primary ‘act’ at issue is that of choosing a lineup. The completion of this ‘act’ will not,
in itself, result in any prize. The payouts in daily fantasy sports are not awarded to
owners who simply set a lineup, they are awarded to the owners whose lineups receive
the highest total score (which is dependent upon the uncertain outcomes associated with
sporting events). Accordingly, even applying Gibson, wagers are present in daily fantasy
sports”). Although the Nevada Attorney General’s Office distinguished Gibson in the
context of analyzing draft style games, analogous reasoning applies to pick’em.

See 31 U.S.C. § 5361 et seq.

State of California v. Iipay Nation of Santa Ysabel (9th Cir. 2018) 898 F.3d 960, 965,
quoting 31 U.S.C. § 5363.
64

31 U.S.C. § 5362, subd. (1)(A), (E)(ix).
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altering, limiting, or extending any Federal or State law . . . prohibiting . . . gambling
within the United States.” 66 As the Nevada Attorney General’s Office observed,
“UIGEA neither made legal nor illegal any form of gambling” but instead provided
“‘new mechanisms for enforcing gambling laws on the Internet.’” 67 Consistent with that
view, UIGEA’s author has explained that although the statute exempts daily fantasy
games from the new obligations UIGEA created, it “does not exempt fantasy sports
companies from any other obligation to any other law”—including state betting
prohibitions like section 337a. 68 And as discussed below, other federal laws regulating
“wagers” have been construed to apply to daily fantasy sports, notwithstanding UIGEA. 69
Fifth, the operators invoke the rule of lenity, “whereby courts must resolve doubts
as to the meaning of a statute in a criminal defendant’s favor.” 70 “The rule of lenity
exists to ensure that people have adequate notice of the law’s requirements.” 71 As the
California Supreme Court has explained, however, “the rule applies only when two
reasonable interpretations of a penal statute stand in relative equipoise. Although true
ambiguities are resolved in a defendant’s favor, an appellate court should not strain to
interpret a penal statute in defendant’s favor if it can fairly discern a contrary legislative

31 U.S.C. § 5361, subd. (b).

Nev.Atty.Gen.Memo., supra, at p. 7, quoting 31 U.S.C. § 5361, subd. (a)(4), alterations
and emphasis omitted.
67

Dahlberg, Former congressman says [Daily Fantasy Sports] is “cauldron of daily
betting,” Associated Press (Oct. 12, 2015), https://apnews.com/united-states-house-ofrepresentatives-united-states-government-house-elections-united-states-congress-generalnews-7b3af0d8b0c04f059e8b301adf8b1784. In the UIGEA author’s view, “it is sheer
chutzpah for a fantasy sports company to cite the law as a legal basis for existing”; there
“is no credible way fantasy sports betting can be described as not gambling.” (Ibid.)
68

See Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel, Memorandum No. AM 2020009, at pp. 8-9 (July 23, 2020) (concluding that daily fantasy sports entry fees are
“wagers” under federal excise tax and rejecting claim that UIGEA affects the analysis),
discussed post, fn. 112.
69

People ex rel. Green v. Grewal (2015) 61 Cal.4th 544, 565, internal quotation marks
omitted.
70

Ibid.
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intent.” 72 Here, “there is no relative equipoise.” 73 In our view, pick’em participants
clearly place bets on the outcome of sporting events in violation of section 337a. 74
Finally, it is not relevant that the game operators or associated technology may be
located outside the State. “Under California law, gambling activities are illegal in this
state even though they are performed in connection with activities in another state or
country where gambling is legal.” 75 Accordingly, we have previously opined that a
person who is physically present in California would violate section 337a by placing bets
over the telephone, regardless of whether the bets are legal where accepted. 76 Likewise, a
person physically present in California would violate section 337a by placing bets over
the Internet on daily fantasy sports games.
Draft Style Games
In draft style games, players compete against each other to see whose team of
selected athletes has the strongest aggregate performance on designated metrics in each
athlete’s next real-world sports game. We conclude that draft style games also involve
betting on sports under section 337a(a)(6). The game entry fees satisfy the definition of a
“bet” or “wager” because players “promise[] to give money” based on “the determination
of an uncertain or unascertained event” (the sports competitions) “in a particular way”
(the relative aggregate performance of each player’s selected team of athletes). 77 As with
pick’em, each player’s financial success depends on the outcome of the underlying sports
games. 78 The sports games themselves constitute “contest[s] . . . of skill, speed or power
Ibid., internal quotation marks and alterations omitted; see also Penal Code, § 4 (“The
rule of the common law, that penal statutes are to be strictly construed, has no application
to this Code. All its provisions are to be construed according to the fair import of their
terms, with a view to effect its objects and to promote justice”).
72

People ex rel. Green v. Grewal, supra, 61 Cal.4th at p. 565.

We are told that some operators offer pick’em as a peer-to-peer competition, in which
participants compete against each other to make the highest number of correct
predictions. In our view, this version of pick’em also constitutes sports wagering because
the entry fees satisfy the definition of a “bet” or “wager” under section 337a. (See post,
fns. 77-157 [explaining why the peer-to-peer draft style games violate section 337a].)
74

80 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 98, 99 (1997), citing Finster v. Keller (1971) 18 Cal.App.3d 836,
849; People v. Jones (1964) 228 Cal.App.2d 74, 92.
75

80 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen., supra, at p. 99.

Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 485, internal quotation marks omitted; see also
ante, fn. 33 (citing similar definitions of a “bet” or “wager”).

See Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 489 (explaining that the California State
(continued…)
15

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of endurance . . . between persons.” 79 And players accrue fantasy points based on the
game “result[s],” namely each athlete’s in-game performance. 80
Our conclusion is again consistent with the view of out-of-state regulators. 81 As
the West Virginia Attorney General explained, state regulators have unanimously
concluded that draft style daily fantasy games violate laws “prohibit[ing] wagers on any
games of skill or sport.” 82 In the words of the Mississippi Attorney General:
When a player places a wager and picks a lineup for a [draft style] Daily Fantasy
Sports contest, each selection is locked-in once the chosen athletes begin[] their real
world competition. . . . [W]inners are selected based on the tally of points earned
by the athletes. This method of play is similar to betting on a horse race or making
a parlay bet . . . . It is different from betting on the outcome of a regular football
game only in that the player can choose from any number of hypothetical “teams”
which the player can possibly pick or create, rather than being limited to picking
from the teams available as they actually exist in the NFL. 83
To be sure, in some of these States, the Legislature has subsequently legalized
draft style games. We are told that 24 States have amended their laws to expressly allow
designated fantasy sports activities. 84 But the policy decision to treat fantasy sports
differently from other sports wagering does not undercut the reasoning of the above
Lottery wagered on an uncertain event because its “financial success . . . depend[ed] . . .
on the [event’s] outcome”).
79

Penal Code, § 337a, subd. (a)(6).

Ibid.; see ante, fns. 54-57 (explaining that the “result” of a sports game under section
337a includes game attributes beyond the winner or loser).
80

See, e.g., Nev.Atty.Gen.Memo., supra, at pp. 8-12; Ga.Atty.Gen.Memo., Re: Daily
fantasy sports games, at p. 3 (Feb. 26, 2016) (a draft style game entry fee “clearly
constitutes a ‘bet’”); Ops.Tex.Atty.Gen. No. KP-0057, at pp. 3-7 (2016).
81

Ops.W.Va.Atty.Gen., 2016 WL 3857081, supra, at p. 13 (citing regulator action in
Arizona, Illinois, Florida, North Dakota, and Vermont).

Ops.Miss.Atty.Gen., 2016 WL 695680, supra, at p. *2; see also Nev.Atty.Gen.Memo.,
supra, at p. 9 (“[D]aily fantasy sports owners pay money to play the simulated games and
compete with each other based on their total scores. If an owner wins, the owner gets
money back. If an owner loses, the owner loses the bet made. When owners play against
each other, some will win and some will lose. Thus, because owners risk money on an
occurrence for which the outcome is uncertain, wagers are present”).
83

See, e.g., 2023 Ops.Va.Atty.Gen., supra, at p. 135 (under Virginia law, conduct “that
otherwise would constitute illegal gambling is permitted in some circumstances” by
statute, including betting on fantasy sports).
84

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Attorney General opinions. Under the ordinary meaning of state laws prohibiting sports
betting, entry fees in draft style games constitute bets or wagers on sports—unless and
until the state Legislature or the electorate change those laws. We are not aware of a
single state or federal regulator concluding that a statute like section 337a that prohibits
all types of sports betting does not bar draft style games.
We find nothing in case law to alter our conclusion that section 337a applies to the
draft style games. In several cases, courts have held that certain contest entry fees did not
constitute bets or wagers. In Hankins v. Ottinger, for example, the California Supreme
Court considered horse owners who paid an entry fee to enter their own horse in a racing
contest that awarded prizes. 85 The Court held that the entry fee was not a bet or wager,
but a fee paid for the privilege of participating in the race. “Trials of speed between
horses,” the Court explained, “are not in themselves” legally disfavored. 86 As a result,
the “giving of purses or premiums by associations . . . not themselves competing, for the
purpose of encouraging such contests,” was not forbidden either. 87 “Were these things
unlawful,” the Court reasoned, many local agricultural competitions would also be
prohibited, as offering a prize “for the fastest racehorse is not distinguishable” from
awarding prizes for other desirable livestock qualities. 88 But the Court distinguished
racing contests among horse owners from wagering on such contests: the law did not
disfavor the races themselves, but it did disfavor “betting or wagering on” those races. 89
Applying Hankins, California courts have distinguished between participating in a
contest and wagering on a contest. In Ex parte McDonald, for example, a racetrack ran
two simultaneous contests based on a single horse race: a contest among horse owners to
win the race, and a contest among spectators to predict the race winner. 90 Both contests
awarded prizes paid out of the same pool funded in part by entry fees, with the owners’
prizes awarded first in an amount determined by the contest judges, and the spectators’
prizes awarded second. 91 The Court of Appeal noted that, under Hankins, a contest
among horse owners to win a race did not constitute betting, even if the prizes were
85

Hankins v. Ottinger, supra, 115 Cal. at p. 456.

Id. at p. 458.

Ibid.

Id. at pp. 458-459.

Ibid.; see also, e.g., Brown v. Bd. of Police Comm’rs of City of Los Angeles (1943) 58
Cal.App.2d 473, 477-479 (applying Hankins to hold that paying an entry fee to
participant in a ball-tossing carnival game, which awarded cigars and other preannounced prizes, did not involve betting or wagering).
89

Ex parte McDonald, supra, 86 Cal.App. at pp. 363-366.

Ibid.
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funded in part by entrance fees. 92 But the contest among spectators to predict the result
of the race was illegal betting under section 337a. 93
Courts in other States have similarly distinguished between participating in
contests and wagering on the result of contests undertaken by others. In State v.
American Holiday Association, Inc., for example, the Arizona Supreme Court held that
fees paid to enter a mail-in word game did not constitute bets under an Arizona statute
prohibiting wagering on games of skill or chance. 94 “It would be patently absurd,” the
Court explained, to conclude that the mere “combination of an entry fee and a prize
equals gambling.” 95 If that were so, then spelling bees, “golf tournaments, bridge
tournaments, . . . rodeos or fair contests, and even literary or essay competitions are all
illegal gambling operations” under Arizona law. 96 Paying a reasonable entry fee to
participate in these types of contests did not constitute betting, the Court held, if the
sponsor did not compete for the prizes and prizes were pre-announced and did not depend
on the entry fees paid. 97
But the Court distinguished participating in a contest and wagering on a contest of
others. “Spelling bees [and] golf tournaments,” the Court explained, “are not like most
bookmaking operations because prizes are not awarded on the basis of the outcome of
some event involving third parties.” 98 Rather, the “prize offered is paid only to
participants and the participants themselves determine the outcome.” 99 In contrast,
winning money by predicting the result of a horse or dog race involved betting because
the entrant “is not a participant” in the race itself. 100 The “money laid down” in these
activities “is not an entrance fee but a wager between parties who are not contestants and
whose gain or loss will be determined by the results of a game played by others.” 101
92

Id. at p. 366.

Id. at pp. 366-368.

State v. Am. Holiday Ass’n, Inc. (1986) 151 Ariz. 312; see id. at p. 313, citing A.R.S.
§ 13-3307, subd. (A) (“[N]o person may engage for a fee . . . in the business of accepting,
recording or registering any bet . . . [or] wager . . . with respect to the result . . . of any
race, sporting event, contest or other game of skill or chance”).
94

State v. Am. Holiday Ass’n, Inc., supra, 151 Ariz. at p. 314, internal quotation marks
omitted.
95

Ibid.

Id. at pp. 315-316.

Id. at p. 314, italics added.

Ibid.

100

Id. at p. 317.

101

Ibid., italics added.
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Thus, while paying an entry fee to compete in a spelling bee was not wagering, betting
“on the winner of the national spelling bee” would be. 102
Here, we conclude that draft style games do not fall within the contest-participant
exception because players do not participate in sporting events but wager on the athletic
performance of others. Unlike participating in a basketball tournament or spelling bee,
where “prizes are not awarded on the basis of the outcome of some event involving third
parties,” a player’s “gain or loss” in daily fantasy sports is “determined by the results of
. . . [sports] game[s] played by others.” 103 Daily fantasy games are thus like other
“bookmaking operations,” such as wagering on “horse racing and dog racing.” 104 They
are akin to wagering on the result of a golf tournament or spelling bee, not participating
in one. Draft style game entry fees therefore do not fall within the contest-participant
exception but instead constitute wagers on sports under the general definition.
The draft style games are similar to wagering on a contest in other respects as
well. Generally, an individual who enters a golf tournament or a spelling bee can only
compete in one (potentially lengthy) contest at a time. In contrast, for both traditional
sports betting and daily fantasy games, an individual can bet or wager on numerous
sporting events simultaneously or in rapid succession. Indeed, some daily fantasy
operators allow an individual player to submit hundreds of separate entries for a single
draft style game. 105 As a result, the risks of addiction and large losses—the chief
concerns underlying section 337a—are particularly acute. And because the entry fees in
draft style games vary from a few dollars to hundreds or even thousands of dollars, losing
players can risk increasing amounts to try to recover their losses, further implicating the
Legislature’s concerns. 106
Our conclusion that the draft styles games do not fall within the contest-participant
exception is again consistent with the views of all other state and federal regulators who

Id. at p. 314; accord, Faircloth v. Cent. Fla. Fair, Inc. (1967) 202 So.2d 608, 609
(Florida statute prohibited “‘wagering’ on the results of ball games, races, prize fights
and the like as opposed to ‘playing’” those games); Grant v. State (1947) 75 Ga.App.
784, 788 (distinguishing playing a baseball game and betting on the result of a baseball
game; “‘a wager is not a game but a bet of stakes upon the results of a game’”).
102

103

State v. Am. Holiday Ass’n, Inc., supra, 151 Ariz. at pp. 314, 317.

104

Ibid.

See, e.g., ante, fn. 19 (describing example of daily fantasy game with $15 entry fee
that allowed 150 entries per person, for a maximum of $2,250 wagered).

105

106

See ante, fn. 51 (describing concerns about bettors chasing losses).
19

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have examined similar questions. 107 As the Mississippi Attorney General explained,
“participating in foosball and pool tournaments for prizes is not prohibited” by a state
law barring betting on game results, but “betting on” foosball or pool tournaments played
by others “would be.” 108 The draft style games fall into the latter category: they
“involve[] a wager upon the performance of others,” even if they are “in the form of a
tournament or contest amongst players to pick the best teams.” 109 Similarly, the Ohio
Attorney General explained that a “fundamental distinction” between golf tournaments or
spelling bees and daily fantasy sports is that daily fantasy “participants have no direct
link to the professional athletes whose performances ultimately determine whether a . . .
participant wins or loses money.” 110 And the IRS Office of Chief Counsel reached the
same conclusion in construing a federal statute that imposes an excise tax on any
“wager.” 111 The Chief Counsel reasoned that playing a draft style game is not like
entering a puzzle-solving contest, but instead is akin to wagering on the result of a
puzzle-solving contest completed by others. 112
That conclusion is also consistent with the Restatement of Contracts, which
California courts have frequently looked to in construing state law. 113 Section 520 of the
See, e.g., Nev.Atty.Gen.Memo., supra, at p. 11 (draft style games involve wagering,
in contrast to the hole-in-one golf shot in Las Vegas Hacienda Inc. v. Gibson, discussed
ante, fns. 58-62); Ops.Tex.Atty.Gen. No. KP-0057, supra, at pp. 6-7 (distinguishing daily
fantasy participants, “who pay entry fees for a chance to win a prize from forecasting the
outcome of [sporting] events,” from the “athletes [who] actually compet[e] in the
sporting events,” italics added); Ga.Atty.Gen.Memo., supra, at p. 4 (distinguishing
between competing in a sporting event for a prize and betting on the result of a sporting
event played by others, which describes daily fantasy sports); see also, e.g.,
Ops.Haw.Atty.Gen. No. 16-1, at pp. 6-7 (2016) (draft style games violated prohibition on
“risk[ing] something of value upon the outcome of . . . a future contingent event not
under [a person’s] control or influence,” the state law barring sports gambling).
107

108

Ops.Miss.Atty.Gen., 2016 WL 695680, supra, at p. *4, italics added.

109

Ibid.

110

Oh.Atty.Gen.Memo., Daily Fantasy Sports Websites, at p. 7 (June 30, 2016).

111

See 26 U.S.C. § 4401(a)(1)-(2).

Internal Revenue Service, Office of Chief Counsel, Memorandum No. AM 2020-009,
supra, at p. 8 (daily fantasy is not like entering a puzzle-solving contest but is like
“choos[ing] a person or persons from a field of puzzle solvers who the contestant
believed had the greatest chance of solving the most puzzles and . . . wagering based on
that person or persons’ expected performance”).
112

See, e.g., Martinez v. Socoma Companies, Inc. (1974) 11 Cal.3d 394, 400-402;
Drennan v. Star Paving Co. (1958) 51 Cal.2d 409, 413-416; Autry v. Republic Prods.,
(continued…)

113

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Restatement defines a “wager” as a “bargain in which a promisor undertakes that, upon
the existence or happening of a condition he will render a performance . . . for which
there is no agreed exchange.” 114 “Generally this condition will be a fortuitous event such
as . . . a horse-race.” 115 Section 521 then recognizes that paying a fee to enter certain
contests for prizes—such as cattle-exhibition or bread-making contests—does not
constitute wagering if the sponsor does not compete for the prize and the entrance fees
are not divided among the contestants. 116 But section 521 expressly requires that
“success in [the competition] does not depend on a fortuitous event,” such as a horse race
open to third-party wagering. 117 So competing in a golf tournament is not wagering. But
competing in a contest to predict the result of a golf tournament is wagering because
“success . . . depend[s] on a fortuitous event”: the golf tournament played by others. 118
Likewise, because “success” in daily fantasy “depend[s] on [the] fortuitous event” of
third-party athletic competitions, entry fees are wagers.
Our analysis is also consistent with Los Angeles Turf Club v. Horse Racing Labs,
LLC, where a federal district court in the Central District of California held that the entry
fees in a fantasy horse racing contest were bets. 119 Much like draft style game players,
Inc. (1947) 30 Cal.2d 144, 148-149. The Restatement’s publication in 1932, in the same
era that section 337a was enacted in 1909, makes it a useful resource in construing
“wager” under section 337a. We note that the Restatement addressed the meaning of a
“wager” because wagering contracts were often unenforceable. (See Rest., Contracts,
§ 512.) The Restatement Second of Contracts, published in 1981, omitted the topic
because it had become “largely governed by legislation.” (Rest.2d Contracts, Ch. 8,
Intro. Note.)
Rest., Contracts, § 520. The definition also requires that the agreement “does not
indemnify or exonerate the promisee or a beneficiary of the bargain for a loss caused by
the existence or happening of the condition.” (Ibid.) So, for example, an insurance
contract is not a “wager” because it indemnifies the insured “for a loss.” (Ibid.)
115
Id., com. c.
114

See Rest., Contracts, § 521 (“An accepted offer of a prize to the winner in a
competition, success in which does not depend on a fortuitous event, is not a wager, if the
promisor does not compete for the prize, or derive a profit or a chance of profit from
payments by the contestants, and if entrance fees are not divided among the contestants”);
see id., illus. 1.
116

Rest., Contracts, § 521, italics added; see Rest., Contracts, § 520, com. c (a “fortuitous
event” includes a horse race or an election or other event outside the control of the
wagering parties).

117

118

Rest., Contracts, § 521.

Los Angeles Turf Club v. Horse Racing Labs, LLC, No. CV 15-09332, 2017 WL
11634526 (C.D. Cal. May 15, 2017).
119

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contest entrants drafted a fantasy team of six or more horses, then earned points based on
each selected horse’s performance in a single real-life horse race. 120 The contest charged
fixed entry fees and awarded pre-announced prizes that did not depend on the number of
entrants. 121 The court held that the contest entry fees were “wager[s] . . . with respect to
the outcome of a horserace.” 122 It analogized the contest’s prizes to the “pot” won by the
winner of a poker game, an activity that constitutes betting under California law. 123 The
contest entry fees, the court explained, “fill[ed]” the pot, with the contest sponsor
contributing additional funds only if it failed to sell enough entries to pay the guaranteed
prizes. 124 The court acknowledged the skill involved in the fantasy game—noting that
participants won “by virtue of their superior selection of horses”—but held that this was
not inconsistent with treating the fantasy game as a type of “wagering.” 125
Los Angeles Turf Club is significant not only because the court concluded that a
fantasy sports contest involved “bets” or “wagers,” but because it illustrates the
consequences if we were to reach a contrary conclusion here. As noted above, the
California Legislature has authorized pari-mutuel wagering on horse races, in which
participants compete against each other to predict race results. 126 In doing so, the
Legislature “guarantee[d] . . . protection[s]” to the public by carefully regulating betting
activities—restricting, for example, where betting can take place and the amount of bets
that must be returned to winners. 127 Any “betting” or “wagering” that does not comply
with these restrictions remains prohibited. 128 But if daily fantasy games like the ones at
issue in Los Angeles Turf Club did not involve “bets” or “wagers,” then they could
Id. at p. *3 (points were awarded based on payoff amounts at racetracks where the
real-life races were held).
120

121

Ibid.

Id. at p. 9. The overarching issue was whether the fantasy horse-racing contests
violated a federal law, the Interstate Horseracing Act, which depended on whether the
contest entry fees were bets or wagers. (See id. at pp. 1, 5-6.)
122

Id. at p. *8, citing Bell Gardens Bicycle Club v. Dep’t of Just. (1995) 36 Cal.App.4th
717.
123

124

Ibid.

125

Ibid.

126

See Bus. & Prof. Code, § 19590; 36 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 150 (1960); ante, fn. 32.

36 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen., supra, at p. 153; 66 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 94 (1983); Youst v.
Longo (1987) 43 Cal.3d 64, 81 (“[T]he Legislature has enacted a comprehensive scheme
of legislation designed to regulate almost every aspect of legalized horse racing and
wagering,” internal quotation marks and italics omitted).
127

See Bus. & Prof. Code, § 19595 (“Any form of wagering or betting on the result of a
horse race other than that permitted by this chapter is illegal”).

128

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potentially operate free from any of those regulations. Games might be offered in any
location, including over the Internet, and they could return any amount of money to
winners. Operators could also effectively circumvent other significant protections,
including prohibitions on “wagering” by race officials, jockeys, and minors. 129 In our
view, it is unlikely that the Legislature intended that result.
Notwithstanding these authorities, the operators argue that the contest-participant
exception applies because draft style game players participate in their own contest—the
fantasy contest—separate from the underlying sports competitions. But as regulators in
Georgia and Texas have explained, this argument could allow the contest-participant
“exception to swallow the rule” because any wager can be recharacterized as its “own”
contest, distinct from the underlying uncertain event. 130 Even the most ordinary sports
bet—whether one team will win by at least 5 points, or whether a player will collect 7
rebounds—could be seen as a distinct contest between the sportsbook and the bettor. The
operators’ argument thus threatens to collapse the distinction between participating in a
contest, on the one hand, and wagering on a contest, on the other.
The operators fail to identify any persuasive argument for treating draft style
games as their own competition. 131 First, the operators argue that draft style games are
their own contest because they are skill-dominant activities. In support, they cite to
White v. Cuomo, where the New York Court of Appeals held in a 4-3 decision that a state
statute authorizing draft style daily fantasy games did not violate the state Constitution’s
“gambling” prohibition under a highly deferential standard of review. 132 The Court
acknowledged that daily fantasy is “distinct from spelling bees, golf tournaments, and
essay competitions” because those contests “do not involve the performance of a third
party.” 133 But it reasoned that daily fantasy entrants nonetheless “engage in a distinct
129

See Cal. Code Regs., tit. 4, §§ 1968-1971.

130

Ga.Atty.Gen.Memo., supra, at p. 4; see Ops.Tex.Atty.Gen. No. KP-0057, supra, at p.

See Comment, Flushed From the Pocket: Daily Fantasy Sports Businesses Scramble
Amidst Growing Legal Concerns (2016) 69 SMU L.Rev. 501, 522 (“[C]ourts have drawn
a distinction between ‘actually participating’ in a contest and being able to control or
affect its outcome versus ‘forecasting’ the result of a contest involving others. It
intuitively makes much more sense to say that [daily fantasy] participants merely forecast
the result of a contest involving others than to say that their wagering against other
participants is the contest itself,” internal quotation marks and italics omitted).
131

See White v. Cuomo (2022) 38 N.Y.3d 209. Because the issue was the
constitutionality of a statute enacted by the Legislature, New York law required the Court
to apply an “‘exceedingly strong presumption of constitutionality’” and uphold the law
unless it was unconstitutional “‘beyond a reasonable doubt.’” (Id. at pp. 216-217.)
132

133

Id. at p. 227.
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game of their own” because the outcome of a fantasy contest turns “on whether the
participant has skillfully composed and managed a virtual roster so as to garner more
fantasy points than rosters composed by other participants.” 134
As Justice Wilson persuasively explained in dissent, however, the “purported
‘skill’ involved” in daily fantasy is simply “a skill in betting.” 135 Although “some [daily
fantasy] bettors ‘draw from their knowledge of the relevant sport, player performance and
histories, offensive and defensive strengths of players and teams, team schedules,
coaching strategies,’” and related statistics “‘to exercise considerable judgment in
selecting virtual players,’” “the same would be true of persons placing a bet on the
number of touchdowns an individual football player would score in tomorrow’s
game.” 136 Just as racetrack wagering is betting, “even if skill in picking . . . horses
greatly affects the chance of winning,” daily fantasy is betting regardless of the skill
involved because success depends on forecasting “future contingent events over which
the bettors have no control.” 137 In our view, the same reasoning applies to section
337a. 138
Second, some of the operators argue that draft style game players participate in
their own contest simply because the games are structured as peer-to-peer competitions,
in which players compete against each other for pre-announced prizes that do not depend
134

Ibid., italics added.

135

Id. at p. 248 (dis. opn. of Wilson, J.).

Ibid., quoting id. at p. 224 (maj. opn.); see ibid. (distinguishing “[s]omeone who owns
a horse, trains it, and enters it into a competition in which the owner is rewarded based on
the horse’s performance” from a fantasy player “who assembles a slate of horses”);
accord, Ex parte McDonald, supra, 86 Cal.App. at pp. 366-368 (racing contest among
horse owners did not violate section 337a but contest among spectators to predict race
winner did); Los Angeles Turf Club v. Horse Racing Labs, LLC, supra, 2017 WL
11634526, at pp. 6-9 (entry fees in fantasy horse racing contest were bets).
136

White v. Cuomo, supra, 38 N.Y.3d at p. 249 (dis. opn. of Wilson, J.); see
Ops.Miss.Atty.Gen., 2016 WL 695680, supra, at p. *2 (fantasy sports constitute
wagering on a contingent event regardless of whether “the amount of skill [needed to
win] is greater than that needed to pick which real sports team will win a particular game,
or to win a game of poker, or to pick the best horse in a race”); Internal Revenue Service,
Office of Chief Counsel, Memorandum No. AM 2020-009, supra, at p. 8 (“[T]he ‘skill’
involved in selecting fantasy players is similar to the skill involved in selecting winners
of individual professional sports games, horse races, or other traditional sports gambling
activities”).
137

See ante, fns. 43-53 (explaining that section 337a prohibits betting or wagering even if
they are skill-dominant activities).
138

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on the number of entrants. 139 That may be a necessary condition for the contestparticipant exception to apply. 140 But it is not in itself a sufficient one. As the Arizona
Supreme Court has persuasively reasoned in construing a statute similar to section 337a,
the exception also requires that “prizes are not awarded on the basis of the outcome of
some event involving third parties.” 141 Were the rule otherwise, any type of ordinary
sports betting could be made legal if it were offered in a peer-to-peer format, dramatically
reducing section 337a’s coverage. Instead of offering an against-the-house wager to
predict the winner of a football game, for example, a sportsbook could offer a twoperson, head-to-head contest to predict the game winner, matching entrants who wished
to make opposing predictions. We see no evidence that the Legislature intended to allow
these types of games, which mimic traditional bilateral wagering and pose similar risks of
addiction and financial injury. In our view, a contest to determine who is the best sports
bettor still involves sports betting. 142
To be sure, the peer-to-peer format of the draft style games means that players do
not bet against the game operators. Where an operator offers a prize that it will always
distribute to one of the participants, the operator itself is not “betting”; its gain or loss
does not depend on the outcome of the uncertain future event. 143 But just because the
operator is not betting against the players does not mean that the players are not betting
against each other. 144 Pari-mutuel wagering on horses, for example, is operated on a
peer-to-peer basis, yet participants clearly bet against one another. 145 We have
previously concluded that participants in a lottery also place “bets” or “wagers” on the

Cf. Humphrey v. Viacom, Inc., No. 06-CV-2768, 2007 WL 1797648 (D.N.J. June 20,
2007) (concluding that season-long fantasy sports contest did not involve betting under
New Jersey law due in part to peer-to-peer contest structure).
139

See, e.g., State v. Am. Holiday Ass’n, Inc., supra, 151 Ariz. at pp. 314-316; Rest.,
Contracts, § 521; compare Las Vegas Hacienda, Inc. v. Gibson, supra, 77 Nev. at pp. 2730 (hole-in-one golf shot was not betting even though the contest was not operated on a
peer-to-peer basis), discussed ante, fns. 58-62.
140

State v. Am. Holiday Ass’n, Inc., supra, 151 Ariz. at p. 314, discussed ante, fns. 94102; see Rest., Contracts, § 521, discussed ante, fns. 113-118.
141

Cf. Tschetschot v. Comm’r (Tax Ct. 2007) 93 T.C.M. (CCH) 914, *3 (rejecting the
argument that, unlike regular poker, a poker tournament did not involve “betting” or
“wagering”; “simply because a sport or activity is played or conducted in a tournament
setting does not transform the underlying activity into something different”).
142

143

See Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at pp. 485-489.

144

See Nev.Atty.Gen.Memo., supra, at pp. 9, 11.

145

See ante, fns. 12-13, 32, 128.
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game result by buying lottery tickets. 146 And the federal district court in Los Angeles
Turf Club likewise concluded that players who competed in a peer-to-peer fantasy contest
to win pre-announced prizes engaged in wagering. 147 Similarly, players in draft style
games place bets on the outcome of the third-party athletic events.
Third, the operators argue that draft style games are their own contest because
winners are not determined by “the outcome of any particular real-life athlete’s
performance or on the score sheet of any sporting event” but instead based on multiple
real-world game statistics, combined pursuant to a designated formula. 148 But as
explained above, section 337a prohibits wagering on any type of game attribute, not just
the ultimate winner. 149 And many forms of sports wagering turn on complex
combinations of game statistics. 150 Horse-race wagering, for example, offers “exotic”
parlay bets that award prizes based on myriad combinations of predicted race results. 151
In sum, daily fantasy may “involve betting on the performances of a collection of

See 105 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 76 (2022) (concluding that lottery tickets constitute
amounts “staked, pledged, bet or wagered . . . upon the result . . . of any lot, chance, [or]
casualty” under section 337a(a)(3)); 82 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 87 (1999) (same). We note
that a lottery’s prize pool may either be made up of pooled entry fees, as in pari-mutuel
horse racing, or it “may involve fixed prizes” determined “in advance of the draw,” like
in the draft style games. (Western Telcon, supra, 13 Cal.4th at p. 490.)
146

See Los Angeles Turf Club v. Horse Racing Labs, LLC, supra, 2017 WL 11634526, at
pp. 8-9 (refusing to follow Humphrey v. Viacom, Inc., discussed ante, fn. 139).
147

148

White v. Cuomo, supra, 38 N.Y.3d at p. 227.

149

See ante, fns. 54-57.

See, e.g., 36 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen., supra, at p. 153 (“The difference between selecting
the winners in one, two, three or six races is one of degree and not of kind”); Betting the
Line, supra, at p. 176 (noting the “hundreds of proposition bets” offered around major
football matches, “from those that reflect the evaluation of playing skills (will John
Elway of the Denver Broncos complete more passes than Chris Chandler of the Atlanta
Falcons?), . . . to the ludicrous (will the total points scored by both teams plus 16 points
equal the number of strokes Tiger Woods takes in a golf tournament played the same
day?)”).
150

See White v. Cuomo, supra, 38 N.Y.3d at p. 249 (dis. opn. of Wilson, J.) (the “same
arguments made to urge that [daily fantasy sports are] not gambling could have been
made about horse racing” given the many complex horse-race wagers—such as the
“trifecta box,” the “pick six,” and the “exacta part wheel,” which require predicting
different combinations of the first, second, or third place results of one or more races).
151

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individual players, rather than the performance of a real team.” 152 But it nevertheless
“involve[s] betting on sports outcomes.” 153
Finally, some operators argue that the draft style games are their own contest
because they fall within the Business and Professions Code’s definition of a regulated
“contest.” 154 Games falling within that definition are subject to disclosure requirements,
but are not prohibited. 155 The statute broadly defines a “contest” to include “any game”
in which participants pay consideration to “compete for . . . prizes” where winning is
“determined by skill or any combination of chance and skill.” 156 But the statute makes
clear that it shall not “be construed to permit any contest . . . that is prohibited by any
other provision of law.” 157 As a result, whether draft style games qualify as “contests” or
not, they are prohibited by section 337a because they involve wagering on sports. 158
We Cannot Opine as to Whether Daily Fantasy Sports Games Are a Lottery
Although we conclude that section 337a prohibits daily fantasy sports games, we
cannot determine whether they are also barred by California’s prohibition of lotteries.
The California Constitution provides that the “Legislature has no power to authorize
lotteries, and shall prohibit the sale of lottery tickets in the State.” 159 Consistent with that
152

Id. at p. 242 (dis. opn. of Wilson, J.).

Ibid.; see Oh.Atty.Gen.Memo., supra, at p. 7 (“[W]hile [daily fantasy] may be a more
sophisticated form of sports betting—in that the outcome is based on the statistics of
individual participants rather than the outcome of the game itself—it appears to be
betting under Ohio law nonetheless”); accord, Edgewood Am. Legion Post No. 448 v.
United States (7th Cir. 1957) 246 F.2d 1, 4-5 (contest to predict the number of runs
scored in baseball games throughout a season constituted “wagering” under federal
excise wagering tax, even though success did not turn “on the result of any particular
game”; the winner was “determined by reference to the happenings of a sports event,” so
the “particular manner in which such event was used in determining the winner [was]
beside the point”).
153

154

Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17539.3, subd. (e).

155

See Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17539 et seq.

156

Bus. & Prof. Code, § 17539.3, subd. (e).

157

Id., subd. (c).

The opinion request asks only about the legality of daily fantasy sports games. We
therefore need not consider whether season-long fantasy sports fall outside of section
337a, such as whether the greater degree of player interaction in those games suggests
that players are participating in their own contest.
158

159

Cal. Const., art. IV, § 19, subd. (a).
27

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directive, the Penal Code prohibits lotteries and lottery-ticket sales. 160 A “lottery is
defined by three elements”: consideration, a prize, and distribution by chance. 161
Consideration “is the fee . . . that a participant pays the operator for entrance.” 162 A prize
“encompasses property that the operator offers to distribute to one or more winning
participants and not to keep for himself.” 163
Relevant here, distribution by chance “means that winning and losing depend on
luck and fortune rather than, or at least more than, judgment and skill.” 164 When a game
combines elements of skill and chance, the question is which is “the dominating factor in
determining the result.” 165 In making that determination, courts look to “the character of
the game as revealed by its rules.” 166 Applying these principles, California courts have
reached a series of fact-specific conclusions. For example, courts have held that skill
predominates in archery and chess, but chance predominates in a game determined by
drawing tickets from a container. 167
See Penal Code, § 319 et seq; Hotel Emps. & Rest. Emps. Int’l Union v. Davis (1999)
21 Cal.4th 585, 591. As noted above, state law contains several exceptions not relevant
here. (See ante, fn. 21.)

160

Hotel Emps. & Rest. Emps. Int’l Union v. Davis, supra, 21 Cal.4th at p. 592; see Penal
Code, § 319 (“A lottery is any scheme for the disposal or distribution of property by
chance, among persons who have paid or promised to pay any valuable consideration for
the chance of obtaining such property or a portion of it, or for any share or any interest in
such property, upon any agreement, understanding, or expectation that it is to be
distributed or disposed of by lot or chance, whether called a lottery, raffle, or gift
enterprise, or by whatever name the same may be known”); see also 71
Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen., supra, at p. 145.
161

162

Hotel Emps. & Rest. Emps. Int’l Union v. Davis, supra, 21 Cal.4th at p. 592.

163

Ibid.

164

Ibid.

165

Finster v. Keller, supra, 18 Cal.App.3d at p. 844.

166

Bell Gardens Bicycle Club v. Dep’t of Just., supra, 36 Cal.App.4th at p. 722.

See 71 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen., supra, at pp. 146-148 (collecting cases); see, e.g., In re
Allen (1962) 59 Cal.2d 5, 7 (bridge is a game of skill); Brown v. Bd. of Police Comm’rs
of City of Los Angeles, supra, 58 Cal.App.2d at p. 477 (“[S]hooting at a target is a game
of skill”); id. at pp. 477-479 (ball-tossing carnival game was a game of skill); Finster v.
Keller, supra, 18 Cal.App.3d at pp. 844-846 (contest to predict the winner of six horse
races was a game of chance); Bell Gardens Bicycle Club v. Dep’t of Just., supra, 36
Cal.App.4th at pp. 747-753 (chance predominated in jackpot feature of poker game);
(continued…)
167

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Here, we are unable to opine as to whether daily fantasy games satisfy the
distribution-by-chance requirement. Attorney General opinions under Government Code
section 12519 are limited to “question[s] of law.” 168 But whether skill or chance
predominates is a question of fact. 169 Although the answer will sometimes be clear,
games like daily fantasy sports that combine elements of skill and chance pose a closer
question. 170 Resolving the issue here, for example, might require evaluating expert
statistical analyses—a fact-intensive undertaking far outside our purview. 171 And the
answer might also vary by game, given differences in rules or administration. 172 Because
we cannot determine whether skill or chance predominates, we cannot opine as to
whether daily fantasy sports are also prohibited as lotteries under Penal Code section 319
et seq. 173

People v. Shira (1976) 62 Cal.App.3d 442, 462 (chance predominated in “RINGO” game
that combined chance elements of Bingo and skill elements of a ring toss); see also 17
Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 63, 64 (1951) (Bingo game variations involving relatively minor skill
elements were games of chance); Cal.Atty.Gen., Indexed Letter, No. I.L. 74-145 (Aug. 9,
1974) (Attorney General Indexed Letter concluding that backgammon is a game of skill,
despite chance element from dice rolls).
Gov. Code, § 12519; see also 62 Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 150, 163 (1979) (“The function of
this office is not to resolve factual disputes, or disputes as to conflicting inferences which
may arise from such facts, but to render opinions on legal questions”); 105
Ops.Cal.Atty.Gen. 39, 39 (2022).
168

See Cossack v. City of Los Angeles (1974) 11 Cal.3d 726, 732 (whether skill or chance
dominates is a “fact question for the trial court”); People v. Settles (1938) 29 Cal.App.2d
Supp. 781, 787 (where game has elements of both skill and chance, the question of which
dominates “is ordinarily one of fact”).
169

See State ex Inf. McKittrick v. Globe-Democrat Pub. Co. (1937) 341 Mo. 862, 875
(“Whether the chance factor is dominant or subordinate is often a troublesome
question”).
170

See post, fn. 184; see, e.g., Brown v. Bd. of Police Comm’rs of City of Los Angeles,
supra, 58 Cal.App.2d at p. 479 (appellate court was “unable to say as a matter of law”
whether skill or chance predominated; question “was for the trial court to determine”).
171

172

See post, fns. 185-186.

See Nev.Atty.Gen.Memo., supra, at p. 16 (“[T]he vast majority of daily fantasy sports
require some level of skill on the part of the owners. Because the level of skill involved
is a question of fact, each individual simulated game must be examined by a finder of
fact, who will determine this issue on a case-by-case basis”); but see Ops.R.I.Atty.Gen.,
Daily Fantasy Sports, p. 2 (Feb. 4, 2016) (concluding that skill predominates in daily
fantasy sports, without considering whether the issue is one of fact or law).
173

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Given the considerable interest here, however, we will describe the principal
contentions on both sides of the skill-versus-chance debate to clarify the issues. To begin
with, the daily fantasy sports operators argue that skill predominates in daily fantasy
sports because successful players act like virtual talent scouts or general managers,
carefully analyzing the underlying athletic events. “Participants draw from their
knowledge of the relevant sport, player performance and histories, offensive and
defensive strengths of players and teams, team schedules, coaching strategies, how
certain players on opposing teams perform against each other, [and] statistics” in making
their roster selections. 174 Participants may also consider the fantasy scoring system, as
well as the likely draft choices of other players. 175
Other comments we received, in contrast, argue that chance predominates in daily
fantasy sports because winners are determined based on a single sporting event per
athlete. And a host of factors can influence an athlete’s single-game performance,
including unexpected weather conditions, last-minute injuries, player ejections, referee
decisions, and athlete well-being. 176 For these and other reasons, an athlete’s
performance can vary widely from game to game. A basketball player who averages six
rebounds per game, for instance, could collect as few as zero or as many as eleven
rebounds in an individual game—such that the athlete’s fantasy-point contributions will
vary significantly as well.
Both sides also analogize to California case law. The operators emphasize In re
Allen, where the Supreme Court held that bridge is a game where skill predominates. 177
The Court acknowledged the “element of chance resulting from the deal of the cards.” 178
But it reasoned that skill nonetheless dominated given the complexity of bridge
technique; the importance of “deductive analysis, psychology, [and] alertness”; and the
“large amount of literature” devoted to improving skill at the game. 179 Commenters on
the other side analogize to Finster v. Keller, where the Court of Appeal held that chance
White v. Cuomo, supra, 38 N.Y.3d at p. 224; see Ops.W.Va.Atty.Gen., 2016 WL
3857081, supra, at pp. 9-11 (enumerating skill elements in daily fantasy, which are
“similar” to the skill elements in ordinary sports betting).
174

175

White v. Cuomo, supra, 38 N.Y.3d at p. 224.

See Ops.Tex.Atty.Gen. No. KP-0057, supra, at pp. 4-6 (enumerating chance elements
in daily fantasy); accord, Com. v. Laniewski (1953) 173 Pa.Super. 245, 250 (traditional
sports bettors can forecast results based on “[p]ast records, statistics and other data,” but
“[n]o one knows what may happen once the game has begun” due to the “many
unpredictable elements” of competition).
176

177

In re Allen, supra, 59 Cal.2d at p. 7.

178

Ibid.

179

Ibid., internal quotation marks omitted.
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predominated in a contest to pick the winner of six horse races. 180 The court cited
statistics suggesting the difficulty of forecasting multiple race results. 181 And it
distinguished Allen on the basis that bridge players “continue to make their individual
judgments until the hand has been played,” thereby exercising “some control over the
outcome,” whereas in the horse racing contest, “all opportunity for the player to exercise
judgment ceases when the” first relevant race began. 182 “The actual outcome of any race
then depends upon elements wholly beyond the control of the player.” 183
Next, the operators cite a series of empirical studies—many sponsored by the
companies themselves—concluding that skill plays a role in daily fantasy sports. 184 As
noted above, we are not in a position to evaluate the methodology or validity of these
studies. We note, though, that one study suggests that the degree of skill in some daily
fantasy sports formats may vary considerably between games. In the draft style games
that employ a salary cap draft, one source of skill is to identify athletes whose fantasy
salaries are low relative to their average performance: if an athlete’s salary is less than
“the expected payoff,” “skilled fantasy players can capitalize.” 185 But whether athletes
are undervalued, and by how much, may vary significantly based on the operator’s
algorithm for pricing salaries. As a result, the degree of skill in these games may vary
widely between operators. Indeed, one of the operators’ studies concluded that if a game
employs “perfect pricing”—where each athlete’s salary “exactly mirrors their expected
payoff”—then “there is no strategy in assembling a lineup (other than to get as close to
the salary cap as possible) and the outcome of the fantasy game is determined purely by
luck.” 186
Finally, the operators cite two out-of-state cases considering skill in daily fantasy
sports, but both have important limitations. First, in Dew-Becker v. Wu, the Illinois
Supreme Court concluded that skill predominates in daily fantasy sports games, relying
180

Finster v. Keller, supra, 18 Cal.App.3d at pp. 844-846.

181

See id. at pp. 841, 845.

182

Id. at p. 844.

183

Ibid.

See, e.g., Gaming Laboratories International, Skill Simulation of DraftKings Daily
Fantasy Basketball Contest (June 25, 2015) (concluding that fantasy athlete rosters
selected at random underperformed rosters chosen by skilled players); Daniel Getty et al.,
Luck and the Law: Quantifying Chance in Fantasy Sports and Other Contests, 60 SIAM
Rev. No. 4, 869 (Jan. 2018) (Luck and the Law) (concluding that skill predominates in
some fantasy sports variants).
184

185

Luck and the Law, supra, at p. 884.

186

Ibid.
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on the above studies. 187 But the studies received no adversarial testing: they were not
included “in the record” or cited by either party, and the Court itself did not “engage in its
own analysis of the studies’ validity or credibility.” 188 The California Supreme Court has
declined to rely on statistical studies in similar circumstances. 189
Second, in White v. Cuomo, discussed above, the New York Court of Appeals held
in a 4-3 decision that a state statute authorizing daily fantasy sports games did not violate
the State Constitution’s “gambling” prohibition. 190 The Court relied in part on the
operators’ studies, which it interpreted to “show[] that skilled [daily fantasy] players
achieve significantly more success.” 191 But New York law required the Court to apply an
“exceedingly strong presumption” that the statute was constitutional and uphold it if there
could “be discovered any state of facts . . . which could reasonably be assumed to afford
support for the legislative decision.” 192 Because this opinion request poses no
comparable questions under the California Constitution, the case provides limited
guidance on the issues of California law presented here.
In sum, we agree with one commentator that “it is difficult to predict with
certainty whether a court would find skill or chance to predominate” in daily fantasy
sports. 193 Such an inquiry could “rely heavily upon expert testimony and a fact intensive
investigation,” and the result could “vary based on the specific nature of each individual
contest.” 194 For these reasons, resolving the issue of whether daily fantasy sports games
constitute illegal lotteries is outside the scope of an Attorney General legal opinion under
Government Code section 12519. But we reiterate that this circumstance has no bearing
Dew-Becker v. Wu (Ill. 2020) 178 N.E.3d 1034, 1040-1041. In dissent, Justice
Karmeier concluded that chance predominates in daily fantasy sports games because “the
outcome of the contest relies entirely on a contingent event that the participant lacks all
control over, and there is no subsequent opportunity for the participant to overcome the
chance involved.” (Id. at p. 1045; see id. at pp. 1042-1045 [collecting cases to support
the dissent’s analytical framework].)
187

188

Id. at p. 1042 (dis. opn. of Karmeier, J.).

See People v. Hardin (2024) 15 Cal.5th 834, 862 (“adversarial testing” of statistical
studies provides “insight into [both] the methodology employed [and] the ultimate
accuracy or significance of the results”).
189

190

See White v. Cuomo, supra, 38 N.Y.3d at p. 212.

191

Id. at p. 223.

192

Id. at pp. 217, 224-225, internal quotation marks omitted; see ante, fn. 132.

Edelman, Navigating the Legal Risks of Daily Fantasy Sports: A Detailed Primer in
Federal and State Gambling Law (2016) 2016 U.Ill. L.Rev. 117, 132.
193

194

Id. at pp. 132-133.
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on our independent determination that such games violate California law under section
337a’s prohibition against betting on sports.
CONCLUSION
We conclude that daily fantasy sports games, including both pick’em and draft
style games, are prohibited by section 337a because they involve betting on sporting
events.

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