In a new legal opinion, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said that daily fantasy sports (DFS) platforms constitute illegal sports gambling under state law.
It’s illegal to offer the products to people within California, “regardless of where the operators and associated technology are located,” Bonta wrote.
The 33-page opinion, released July 3, 2025, focused on gambling addiction.
Bonta cited California law created “out of concern that horse-race wagering had resulted in addiction and financial ruin.”
The California Legislature has not yet legalized online sports betting, citing addiction risks as a key concern. California voters are also against sports betting legalization.
The legal opinion regarding DFS officially came at the request of California Assemblymember Tom Lackey (R-34th District).
It’s unclear how the legal opinion will affect upcoming policy proposals or litigation related to online sports gambling in California.
The opinion could affect gambling companies such as PrizePicks, Underdog Sports, DraftKings, FanDuel, among others. Underdog said the opinion represents an “imminent, existential threat” to its business.
‘Rapid Nature’ of Prop Gambling
Bonta called gambling addiction risks from DFS-style betting “acute.”
The ruling centered on “pick’em” and “draft-style” DFS gambling products. In the former, players can make proposition-style bets on athletes and sports games.
An example of a prop bet is wagering on a baseball player to hit a home run in a specific game.
“We are not aware of any authority indicating that these [addiction] risks are materially different for proposition betting than for other forms of sports wagering,” Bonta wrote.
“If anything, the rapid nature of in-game proposition betting—where bets are placed on an upcoming play and resolved in minutes, if not seconds—might make addiction risks especially acute.”
Bonta’s comments are related to a broader debate in the U.S. around the use of artificial intelligence to create so-called micro-betting products.
Chasing Losses in Draft-Style Gambling
Chasing losses is one of the clearest signs of problem gambling.
Bonta said that peer-to-peer DFS gambling products could be especially dangerous because they might encourage loss chasing.
These products involve users paying an entry fee to enter a contest against other gamblers.
“Some daily fantasy operators allow an individual player to submit hundreds of separate entries for a single draft-style game,” California’s top law enforcement official wrote.
“As a result, the risks of addiction and large losses—the chief concerns underlying section 337a—are particularly acute. And because the entry fees in draft-style games vary from a few dollars to hundreds or even thousands of dollars, losing players can risk increasing amounts to try to recover their losses, further implicating the Legislature’s concerns” about addiction.
Online Sports Betting Addiction Rates
More than half of states sanction online sports betting. California isn’t one of them.
The sports betting policy debate comes amid alarming surveys about the extent of online sports gambling addiction specifically.
According to 2025 survey findings from Siena College Research Institute:
- 52% of online sports bettors have “chased” a bet
- 50% have used a gambling addiction tool in a sportsbook app
- 37% have felt ashamed after losing
- 37% have bet more than they felt comfortable with losing
- 23% have had someone express concern about their sports gambling
- 20% have lost money that directly hurt their financial situation
- 20% have lied about the extent of their sports betting
More than half of online sports bettors admit to at least one worrying sign of problem gambling.
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