§ 325 — Conditions of licensure

As a condition of licensure, the board shall require each licensed operator to establish and implement procedures to govern the conduct of fantasy contests in this Commonwealth. The procedures, at a minimum, shall:

(1) Permit only participants who have established a fantasy contest account with the licensed operator to participate in a fantasy contest conducted by the licensed operator.

(2) Verify the age, location and identity of any participant prior to making a deposit into a fantasy contest account for a participant located in this Commonwealth according to regulations established by the board. No participant under 18 years of age may be permitted to establish a fantasy contest account with a licensed operator.

(3) Verify the identity of a participant by requiring the participant to provide the licensed operator a unique user name and password prior to accessing a fantasy contest account.

(4) Ensure rules and prizes and awards established by the licensed operator for a fantasy contest are made known to a participant prior to the acceptance of any entry fee and prize and award values are not determined by the number of participants nor the amount of any fees paid by those participants.

(4.1) Develop and offer fantasy contests that are limited to beginners as follows:

(i) Except as provided in subparagraph (ii), a licensed operator shall prohibit participants who are not beginners from participating, directly or through another person as a proxy, in beginner fantasy contests.

(ii) A licensed operator may allow a participant who is not a beginner to enter up to 10 beginner fantasy contests in any sport in which that participant has not already entered 20 fantasy contests.

(iii) A licensed operator shall suspend the account of a participant who is not a beginner, except as provided for in subparagraph (ii), that enters a beginner fantasy contest and shall ban the participant from further participation in beginner fantasy contests offered by the licensed operator.

(4.2) Develop and offer fantasy contests in which highly experienced players cannot, either directly or through another person as a proxy, participate. A licensed operator shall suspend the account of any highly experienced player who enters a fantasy contest which excludes highly experienced players, directly or through another person as a proxy, and shall ban the individual from further participation in fantasy contests offered by the licensed operator.

(4.3) Establish a procedure for receiving and responding to participant complaints and reconciling a participant's fantasy contest account. The licensed operator shall forward to the board on a quarterly basis a copy of each complaint received.

(4.4) Submit, in the manner as the board requires, a description of the licensed operator's administrative and accounting procedures in detail, including its written system of internal control. Each written system of internal control shall include:

(i) An organizational chart depicting appropriate segregation of employee functions and responsibilities.

(ii) A description of the duties and responsibilities of each employee position shown on the organizational chart.

(iii) A detailed narrative description of the administrative and accounting procedures designed to satisfy the requirements of this section.

(iv) Record retention policy.

(v) A statement signed by the chief financial officer of the proposed licensed operator or other competent person and the chief executive officer of the proposed licensed operator or other competent person attesting that the officers believe, in good faith, that the system satisfies the requirements of this section.

(vi) Any other item that the board may require in its discretion.

(4.5) File a report of any suspicious transaction with the bureau. The following shall apply:

(i) A licensed operator or a person acting on behalf of a licensed operator who knowingly fails to file a report of a suspicious transaction commits a misdemeanor of the third degree.

(ii) A licensed operator or a person acting on behalf of a licensed operator who fails to file a report or a person who causes another person required under this section to fail to file a report of a suspicious transaction shall be strictly liable for his actions and may be subject to sanctions as determined by the board.

(iii) The bureau shall maintain a record of all reports made under this paragraph for a period of five years. The bureau shall make the reports available to any Federal or State law enforcement agency without necessity of subpoena.

(iv) A person who is required to file a report of a suspicious transaction shall not notify an individual suspected of committing the suspicious transaction that the transaction has been reported. A person that violates this subsection commits a misdemeanor of the third degree and may be subject to sanctions as determined by the board.

(v) A person who is required to file a report of a suspicious transaction who in good faith makes the report shall not be liable in any civil action brought by a person for making the report, regardless of whether the transaction is later determined to be suspicious.

(5) Ensure that an individual who is the subject of a fantasy contest is restricted from entering as a participant in a fantasy contest that is determined, in whole or part, on the accumulated statistical results of a team of individuals in the sport in which the individual is a member.

(6) Allow a person to restrict himself from entering a fantasy contest or accessing a fantasy contest account for a specific period of time as determined by the participant and implement procedures to prevent the person from participating in the licensed operator's fantasy contests. The following shall apply to self-exclusions:

(i) A person may request placement on the list of self-excluded persons and agree that, during any period of voluntary exclusion, the person may not collect any winnings nor recover any losses resulting from any fantasy contest activity.

(ii) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the board's list of self-excluded persons shall not be open to public inspection. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a licensed operator from disclosing the identity of persons self-excluded under this paragraph to affiliated licensed gaming entities or licensed operators in this Commonwealth or other jurisdictions for the limited purpose of assisting in the proper administration of responsible programs operated by affiliated licensed gaming entities or licensed operators.

(7) Allow a person to restrict the total amount of deposits that the participant may pay to the licensed operator for a specific time period established by the participant and implement procedures to prevent the participant from exceeding the limit.

(8) Conspicuously post compulsive and problem play notices at fantasy contest registration points and provide the toll-free telephone number to participants. The toll-free telephone number and the compulsive and problem play notice shall be approved by the board, in consultation with the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs or a successor agency.

(9) Disclose the number of entries a single participant may submit to each fantasy contest and take steps to prevent such participants from submitting more than the allowable number.

(10) Prohibit the licensed operator's principals, employees and relatives living in the same household of an employee or principal from competing in a fantasy contest offered by any licensed operator to the general public and in which fantasy contest the licensed operator offers a prize or award.

(11) Prevent the sharing of confidential information that could affect fantasy contest play with third parties until the information is made publicly available.

(12) Take steps to maintain the confidentiality of a participant's personal and financial information.

(13) Segregate participant funds from operational funds in separate accounts and maintain a reserve in the form of cash, cash equivalents, security deposits held by banks and processors, an irrevocable letter of credit, payment processor reserves and receivables, a bond or a combination thereof in an amount sufficient to pay all prizes and awards offered to winning participants. To satisfy this paragraph, a licensed operator that only offers season-long fantasy contests that generate less than $250,000 in season-long fantasy contest adjusted revenue may contract with a third party to hold prizes and awards in an escrow account until after the season is concluded and prizes and awards are distributed.

(14) Provide winning in-State participants with information and documentation necessary to ensure the proper reporting of winnings by in-State participants to the department.

(15) Remit taxes or assessments to the department in accordance with sections 331 (relating to fantasy contest tax), 332 (relating to licensed operator deposits) and 333 (relating to responsibility and authority of department).

(16) Prohibit the use of scripts by participants and implement technologies to prevent the use of scripts.

(17) Monitor fantasy contests for the use of scripts and prohibit participants found to have used such scripts from participation in future fantasy contests.

(18) Establish any other condition deemed appropriate by the board.

Legislative History

Cross References.Section 325 is referred to in section 322 of this title.