940 CMR, § 34.12 - Fairness of DFS Contests

(1) No Game Play by Employees and Others Affiliated with a DFSO. No DFSO employee, DFSO principal, DFSO officer, DFSO director, or DFSO Contractor may play on any DFS Contest Platform of any DFSO. Nor may such person play through another person as a proxy. However, such individuals may play in a private contest on a DFS Contest Platform in which the individual's relevant affiliation with a DFSO is fully disclosed to each player. DFSO employees may also use clearly marked test accounts for testing purposes including evaluating a DFS Contest Platform. DFSO employees using test accounts shall not be eligible to win Prizes, provided however, that if a DFSO employee wins a DFS contest, the Prize in that contest must be awarded to a participant in that contest who would have won the Prize if the DFSO employee had not participated. DFSOs shall make these restrictions known to all affected individuals and corporate entities.

(2) Disclosures Required of DFSO Promoters. No DFSO Promoter may enter any DFS contest on any DFS Contest Platform unless such DFSO Promoter has disclosed the following in connection with any public recommendation concerning DFS gameplay to other DFS players:

(a) That the DFSO Promoter is also a DFS player;

(b) The user name that the DFSO Promoter uses for gameplay on any DFS Contest Platform;

(c) That the DFSO Promoter may play, in connection with a personal account, in the games on which recommendations are offered;

(d) That the DFSO Promoter may engage in DFS gameplay, in connection with a personal account, using players or strategies different from the recommendations made by the DFSO Promoter; and

(e) That the DFSO Promoter's recommendations do not necessarily reflect the view of the DFSO.

(3) No Disclosure of Proprietary Information. No DFSO employee, DFSO principal, DFSO officer, DFSO director, or DFSO Contractor may disclose proprietary or non-public information that may affect DFS gameplay to any person permitted to engage in DFS gameplay. DFSOs shall make these restrictions known to all affected individuals and corporate entities.

(4) No Gameplay by Athletes and Others Connected with DFS Contest Outcomes. No DFSO shall allow a professional or amateur athlete, or a sports agent, team employee, referee or a league official associated with any competition which is the subject of DFS contests, to enter DFS contests in the sport in which they participate. Nor may such athlete, sports agent, team official, team representative, referee or league official play through another person as a proxy. A DFSO will not be held liable for a violation of 940 CMR 34.12(4) if:

(a) The DFSO makes commercially reasonable efforts to obtain lists of such persons for the purpose of implementing this provision by monitoring for and excluding accounts of such persons;

(b) The DFSO makes these restrictions known to all affected individuals and corporate entities;

(c) The governing body for the sport in which the athlete, sports agent, team official, team representative, referee or league official participates, maintains and enforces a policy that excludes such individuals from entering DFS contests in that sport; and

(d) The DFSO, upon learning of a violation of 940 CMR 34.00, immediately bars the individual committing the violation from playing in any DFS contest by suspending such individual's account and banning such individual from further play, terminates any existing promotional agreements with such individual and refuses to make any new promotional agreements that compensate such individual.

(5) Restriction on Sharing Non-public Information that May Affect DFS Gameplay. No DFSO shall knowingly permit an athlete, sports agent, team employee, referee or league official to provide proprietary or non-public information to any DFS player, or to provide such information to a DFS player before such information is made public.

(a) A DFSO, upon learning of a violation of 940 CMR 34.00, shall bar the individual(s) committing the violation as well as the person(s) receiving such information from playing in any DFS contest by suspending the affected account(s) and banning such individual(s) from further play. The DFSO shall also terminate any existing individual promotional agreements with any athlete, sports agent, team employee, referee or league official that violates 940 CMR 34.00 and shall refuse to make any new individual promotional agreements that compensate such individual.

(b) DFSOs shall make these restrictions known to all affected individuals and corporate entities.

(6) Beginner Games. All DFSOs shall develop games that are limited to Beginners and shall keep non-Beginner players from participating, either directly or through another person as a proxy, in those games. A DFSO shall suspend the account of any non-Beginner DFS player that enters a Beginner game directly or through another person as a proxy and shall ban such individual from further play. A DFSO may allow a non-Beginner who is not a Highly-experienced Player to enter up to ten Beginner contests in any sport in which that player has not already entered 20 DFS contests.

(7) Games that Exclude Highly-experienced Players. All DFSOs shall develop games in which Highly-experienced Players cannot, either directly or through another person as a proxy, participate. A DFSO shall suspend the account of any Highly-experienced Player who enters a game which excludes Highly-experienced Players, directly or through another person as a proxy, and shall ban such individual from further play.

(8) On-boarding Procedures for New Players. On-boarding procedures for new players shall explain opportunities to learn about contest play and how to identify Highly-experienced Players, and shall recommend beginner contests and low-cost private contests with friends for their value as a learning experience.

(9) Prohibition of Scripts.

(a) A DFSO shall not permit unauthorized Scripts to be used on DFS Contest Platforms and shall use commercially reasonable efforts to monitor for and to prevent use of such Scripts.

(b) A DFSO shall bar any individual or corporation found to be using an unauthorized Script from playing in any DFS contest by terminating such individual or corporate account and by banning that individual or corporation from further play.

(c) A DFSO shall not authorize Scripts that provide a player with a competitive advantage over another player.

1. For the purpose of 940 CMR 34.12(9) a Script will be treated as offering a competitive advantage for reasons including, but not limited to, its potential use to:

a. facilitate entry of multiple contests with a single line-up;

b. facilitate changes in many line-ups at one time;

c. facilitate use of commercial products designed and distributed by third parties to identify advantageous game strategies; or

d. gather information about the performance of others for the purpose of identifying or entering contests against DFS players who are less likely to be successful.

(d) Authorized Scripts shall either be incorporated as a game feature or be Prominently Published and thereby made available to all DFS players.

(10) Rules on When DFS Contests Lock.

(a) As of the time a DFS contest locks, no further entries or substitution of participants shall be accepted in connection with that contest. Nor shall participants be allowed to make further alterations or substitutions in connection with their entry or entries.

(b) DFSOs shall Prominently Publish rules that govern when each DFS contest shall lock that may include rules for multiple lock times in situations in which underlying competitions begin at different times. No lock times may occur after the commencement of the competition to which that lock time applies.

(c) DFSOs shall prominently disclose contest-specific information about the time that each contest locks in connection with each contest offered.

(d) A DFSO shall strictly enforce all disclosed lock times.

(11) Identification of Highly-experienced Players. DFSOs shall identify Highly-experienced Players by a symbol attached to their username, or by other easily visible means, on all DFS Contest Platforms.

(12) Restrictions on Number of Entries by Contest.

(a) DFSOs shall not allow a DFS player to submit more than one entry in any DFS contest involving 12 entries or less.

(b) DFSOs shall not allow a DFS player to submit more than two entries in any DFS contest involving 13 through 36 entries.

(c) DFSOs shall not allow a DFS player to submit more than three entries in any DFS contest involving 37 through 100 entries.

(d) In any contest involving more than 100 entries, DFSOs shall not allow a DFS player to submit more than the lesser of:

1. 3% of all entries; or

2. 150 entries.

(e) For all advertised DFS contests, the DFSO shall prominently include information about the maximum number of entries that may be submitted for that contest.

(f) DFSOs may establish DFS contests, representing less than 2% of the total number of contests it offers, in which there is no restriction on the number of entries, provided that:

1. the DFSO clearly discloses that there are no limits on the number of entries by each player in such contest; and

2. that the cost of participating in such contest is $50 or more per entry.

(13) DFSOs shall promptly, accurately and regularly update the "fill rate" for any DFS contest it offers on each of its DFS Contest Platforms. For the purpose of 940 CMR 34.12(13), the term "fill rate" shall mean the number of entries that have been submitted for that DFS contest at a given time.

(14) DFSOs shall not offer free or discounted entries to fill a contest in the three hour period prior to the earliest lock time for that contest, unless such free or discounted entries are made available pursuant to a plan that does not unreasonably disadvantage the players that have already entered that contest. For the purposes of 940 CMR 34.12(14), an entry shall be considered "free" or "discounted" if it is less than the full entry fee for the contest or if the full entry fee is collected subject to refund, account credit, offset or reimbursement on any basis.

Notes

940 CMR, § 34.12

Adopted by Mass Register Issue 1310, eff. 4/8/2016.