Daily Fantasy Sports Contests Not Illegal Gambling in Illinois

The loser of a head-to-head NBA fantasy sports contest on the FanDuel website won’t be able to recover his losses under Illinois gambling law because the contest is a game of skill, the Illinois Supreme Court said.

The law allows the loser of illegal gambling bets to seek recovery from the winner.

Because the outcome of the FanDuel daily fantasy sports contests are “mathematically more likely” to be determined by skill than chance it isn’t considered illegal gambling, the court said, adopting the “predominate factor test.”

The head-to-head daily fantasy sports contests are predominately determined by the skill of the ...