After suffering a number of setbacks in the past year—and a few victories, as well—the two biggest players in daily fantasy sports reportedly are thinking about joining forces.
FanDuel and DraftKings, both of which have been banned in at least a dozen states on the charge of offering illegal gambling, are working toward a merger, according to Bloomberg.
Both sites once were valued at more than $1 billion, but they’ve been hit hard since January when Texas, Alabama, and Tennessee forbid the DFS sites from operating in their respective states. And though New York is close and Virginia already has legalized the two sites (with a hefty licensing fee, of course), the news surrounding the industry mostly hasn’t been good (both sites have stopped taking action on college sports and DraftKings dropped sponsorshipof major esports leagues).
Bloomberg reported that both sites’ value has dropped by more than 50 percent, which might be why DraftKings and FanDuel have been recently working toward an agreement. Forbes, though, wrote it was “incredibly unlikely that the U.S. government would allow a merger” because of antitrust law.
FanDuel declined comment Monday to the Daily Dot. DraftKings also has remained silent.
