Underdog Fantasy Launches 'Pick'em Champions,' Peer-to-Peer Format In Four States
Underdog Fantasy – which, along with other players in the pick ‘em DFS world, have been under regulatory fire in recent months – is retiring its pick ‘em “against the house” games in three states and introducing a new, peer-to-peer pool style of pick ‘em.
It’s called “Pick’em Champions,” and it will be launching Monday in Alabama, Mississippi, and Wyoming. It will also be launching in a fourth state – Tennessee – that doesn’t currently house Underdog.
Instead of players choosing higher/lower fantasy points and playing against the house, players will now – per an Underdog press release – “build teams of athletes and predict how they’ll perform against statistical benchmarks. Players will then have their teams entered into a tournament where they’ll face off against other teams. Winners will share in a prize.”
“We’ve built Underdog to innovate and help sports fans increase their enjoyment with sports and that is exactly what we are doing with Pick’em Champions,” Jeremy Levine, founder and co-CEO of Underdog, said in a statement. “I’m very excited for what comes next. As we continue to evolve Champions, I think it very well could become the best game we offer. Recently, a few regulators have said that in their states fantasy should be peer-to-peer. While we don’t agree with that interpretation of the law, we developed Champions to be peer-to-peer.”
Levine has been vocal in recent months, publicly stating that DraftKings and FanDuel have been working behind the scenes with regulators and legislators to ban pick ‘em fantasy contests.
FanDuel and DraftKings don’t want to compete on product. Instead, they’re working the political backrooms to try to limit competition and options for customers. And then they stand up on a stage at G2E and try to mislead our entire industry. https://t.co/1MrAilovls
— Jeremy Levine (@JerLevine) October 26, 2023
And in recent weeks, a bunch of states have demanded that Underdog – as well as other pick‘em sites such as PrizePicks – cease offering the old style of pick ‘em games, claiming they are too close to traditional sports betting.
Arizona, Wyoming, and Florida regulators have sent cease and desist letters to the operators, while Michigan and New York changed regulations to effectively ban the contests. Mississippi had sent a strongly worded letter to the companies, and Maine fined Underdog nearly $400,000 and demanded they stop offering the games. North Carolina legislators have crafted a rule to ban the contests.
Underdog representatives did not offer information about when and if other states might make the switch, or when and if states where Underdog isn’t currently operating would launch Pick’em Champions.