West Virginia Fantasy Sports Sites

Therefore, West Virginia fantasy sports apps operate with a high degree of legal certainty despite the lack of an official regulatory framework.

Fans’ options range from season-long leagues to single-day pick ‘em contests featuring massive payout multiples.

It’s critical to note that West Virginia does not regulate fantasy sports, so players have little recourse if they experience an unresolvable dispute with an operator.

For that reason, BettingUSA strongly advises West Virginia sports fans to use established and prominent fantasy sports apps exclusively. At a minimum, fans should use fantasy sports sites licensed in at least one other state.

Pick’em Fantasy Sports In West Virginia

Local regulators have advised operators that player-vs-house pick ‘em fantasy contests qualify as sports betting due to their resemblance to parlays and prop bets.

As a result, several pick ‘em operators have introduced peer-to-peer variants to remain compliant with West Virginia law.

Pick ‘Em Fantasy Apps Leave the WV Market

The WV Lottery Commission examined the issue in 2022 and expressed doubts regarding the legality of pick’em fantasy sports played against the house.

Pick ‘em fantasy operators active in West Virginia at that time either exited the market entirely or disabled all contests resembling fantasy props.

Pick ‘Em Fantasy Returns to WV

Several of West Virginia’s most popular pick ‘em apps regained access to West Virginia after developing legally permissible peer-to-peer variants of their fantasy prop contests.

Peer-to-peer pick’em contests closely resemble their single-player counterparts but tweak their payout rules just enough to meet traditional interpretations of the UIGEA-compliant definition of “fantasy sports.”

In practical terms, this means players still select athletes and predict whether they will exceed their projected stat totals.

Most peer-to-peer pick’em variants in West Virginia offer fixed payouts for perfect entries, so players can design entries that meet their risk/reward preferences, the same as in single-player pick ‘em contests.

The primary difference is that players’ entries are pooled into groups of similar user-submitted entries, so they can also earn tournament-style payouts for imperfect entries.

Types of Pick ‘Em Fantasy Contests in West Virginia

Players can read more about the different types of peer-to-peer pick ‘em contests available in West Virginia below:

• PrizePicks Pick ‘Em Arena
• Underdog Fantasy Champions
• ParlayPlay Rumble Contests

West Virginia Fantasy Sports Law

West Virginia hasn’t passed legislation to legalize daily fantasy sports, but a past Attorney General opinion has given DFS operators the all-clear.

West Virginia AG: Fantasy Sports Contests Are Legal

In July 2016, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey issued an opinion clarifying the state’s opinion on daily fantasy sports in response to a request from Senate President Bill Cole.

A statement  explains that West Virginia law requires real money games to be determined predominantly by chance for them to meet the state’s definition of gambling.

The relevant portion of the formal opinion explains:

“We conclude that West Virginia does not prohibit the offering of or participation in fantasy sports games, as they are defined in Senate Bill 529. We read state law to prohibit only betting upon games decided at least predominantly by chance. Fantasy sports games, as defined in the Senate Bill, are not so decided. Rather, they are determined predominantly by skill, knowledge, and athletic performance. Because you have not asked, we do not specifically address whether particular fantasy sports games meet the Senate Bill’s definition. But we do note that fantasy sports games, as we have described them in the background discussion above, are likely not decided predominantly by chance.

“We further conclude that this Opinion is consistent with the decisions of most other state attorneys general regarding the legality of fantasy sports games. Those state attorneys general who have found their state laws to prohibit only betting upon games decided predominantly by chance, as we have determined about West Virginia law, have similarly found pay-to-play fantasy sports games to be lawful in their states. In contrast, in those states where fantasy sports games have been found unlawful, the state attorneys general have found state gambling laws to apply more broadly than in West Virginia, prohibiting betting in many more games than simply those where chance predominates.”

West Virginia Still Considering DFS Legislation

Although the 2016 AG opinion gave West Virginia fantasy sports sites solid legal footing, lawmakers have still expressed interest in passing legislation to regulate DFS contests.

For example, Delegates Cannon, Chiarelli, Smith, Willis, and Maynor sponsored , the West Virginia Daily Fantasy Sports Contest Act, in 2024.

The bill didn’t advance beyond its first committee phase, but its contents offer an inside look at how some West Virginia lawmakers would like to regulate DFS contests.

Key points from the bill included:

• Minimum age of 19 to participate in DFS contests
• West Virginia Lottery Commission to regulate fantasy sports sites
• Daily fantasy sports operators must apply for licenses from the WV Lottery Commission
• Operators subject to a 15% privilege tax on their WV-derived revenue
• Privilege tax is in lieu of all other state and local taxes, minus certain exceptions
• License fees based on revenue but capped at $1 million
• The Lottery Commission and licensed West Virginia fantasy sports sites must maintain voluntary self-exclusion programs
• Licensed West Virginia fantasy sports apps must maintain programs to “mitigate and curtail compulsive play”

West Virginia Fantasy Sports FAQ