Fantasy Sports Trade Association expands focus to include sports gaming, changing name
TAMPA, Fla. — The Fantasy Sports Trade Association (FSTA) announced today at its Winter Conference that it is embracing the rapid legal and technological changes facing the sports industry by expanding its focus to include sports gaming. The organization will also be changing its name, effective in April, to the Fantasy Sports & Gaming Association (FSGA).
The changes will better enable the association to expand its mission to include all the new markets emerging in sports: sports betting, games of skills and non-sports contests.
With the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning PASPA and allowing states to decide whether to legalize sports betting, the expanded scope of the association will allow members to network with the dealmakers in these new markets and to collectively work to ensure that the new laws allow members to compete in the marketplace.
The FSGA will continue to be the leading association for the fantasy sports industry, but its expanded focus will offer a forum for companies that offer games, services, analytics, and content for both legal contests of skill and sports gaming.
“We see a need for an association of companies that not only offer fantasy sports, but also emerging gaming opportunities,” said FSTA president Paul Charchian. “Non-sports fantasy games, eSports and sports betting have gameplay similarities, shared vendors, shared customers and shared legal goals. We will build on our 21-year track record of helping to grow the businesses within these industries.”
The number of fantasy sports players has increased exponentially, to nearly 60 million in the U.S. and Canada, since the FSTA was formed. The FSTA has been a big part of that growth, generating research and data for the industry, providing key networking opportunities and a forum for collective action.
The FSTA has led legal efforts to defend the use of player names in fantasy contests and to defend fantasy sports as legal games of skill, spearheading an effort that has seen 20 states pass laws confirming paid fantasy sports contests are legal games of skill.
The debut event of the FSGA will be its June 27-28 Summer Conference in New York City.
About FSTA
The Fantasy Sports Trade Association represents the fantasy sports industry with over 150 member companies ranging from small startups to large media corporations. As the voice of the industry since 1998, the FSTA has been the leader in providing demographic data, annual conferences and collective action to ensure unfettered growth. For more information, visit https://www.thefsga.org.