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Fantasy Sports Are Now Officially Legal in N.H.

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Next month, for the first time, New Hampshire residents can "legally" draft players for fantasy football leagues.  Recently, Gov. Chris Sununu signed a law legalizing all fantasy sports games in the state. 

An estimated 200,000 people in the state participate in some form of fantasy gaming each year. But technically, in New Hampshire, it hasn’t been clear whether the gaming companies were operating legally.

Under the new law, the state will now regulate these games but it won’t make any money off them.  The law establishes that fantasy sports will not be taxed in New Hampshire.  Charlie McIntyre heads the state lottery commission and says that’s a good thing.

“In some jurisdictions the rate of tax was so high as not to allow other businesses to do it, other than the giant companies, so a lack of tax and fee structure actually allows more competition,” McIntyre said.

A previous proposal would have charged companies an annual fee of $5,000, as well as collected 5 percent of their gross revenue each year. McIntyre says that would have resulted in the state taking in about $100,000 to $200,000 annually.

More than a dozen other states have similar laws on the books including Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont. 

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