Sports teams and broadcasters

In 2008, NBC launched SnapDraft; and FanDuel quickly became the prominent DFS site shortly after it launched in 2009. DFS experienced a major increase in prominence in 2014 and 2015 with the dramatic growth of two competing services: DraftKings and FanDuel. Both received venture capital investments from various firms, including sports teams and broadcasters, and became known for running aggressive marketing campaigns with an emphasis on large cash prizes. The legality of daily fantasy games has been challenged, with critics, as well as the state of Nevada, arguing that they closer-resemble proposition wagering on athlete performance than a traditional fantasy sports game, while DraftKings' CEO has referred to its games as being similar to online poker. DFS providers have cited the UIGEA's exemptions of fantasy sports as being a general exception for their legality; their legality is subject to how individual states classify a game of chance. Daily Fantasy Sports were not historically offered in 5 states [Iowa, Arizona, Louisiana, Montana, Washington] that have laws stating a game that involves any chance is gambling. In addition several other states have murky legal environments for paid fantasy sports contests with negative AG opinions or in the case of Nevada, requiring a gambling license. As a result, Draftkings and Fanduel are active in only 41 states.