Georgia lottery officials target fantasy sports betting websites

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ATLANTA — Two popular fantasy sports websites that advertise big payouts are now under fire from Georgia Lottery leaders. They say the sites may violate state law.
 
"The most I ever won is 300 dollars, so that was pretty good," said fantasy football fan James Korb.
 
That $300 payday was good enough to hook Korb on the daily fantasy sports sites DraftKings and FanDuel.
 
"I feel like I have some skill," Korb told Channel 2 Action News investigative reporter Aaron Diamant Wednesday. "I'm a fan, so like why not make a little money at it if you can?"
 
Players on the sites pay a fee to play and compete for cash, generating points from real pro and college sports players' performances.
 
"I feel like I've got a better chance doing this than going and buying a Mega Millions ticket," Korb said.
 
With ads running everywhere, the sites have drawn a lot of fire lately from the feds and a growing number of states, including Georgia.
 
Georgia Lottery's chief council, Joseph Kim, recently fired off a letter to the two sites' CEO's saying,  "Based on [our] review of the various Georgia criminal statutes, I need your assistance in identifying how it is that FanDuel and DraftKings are able to lawfully operate fantasy sports games in the State of Georgia."
 
"I do think that because of the national scope of these, programs it's probably going to take the federal government weighing in on it," said Georgia Governor Nathan Deal.
 
This week, Deal told Channel 2 Action News he's not convinced a statewide ban would be effective.
 
"I'm not sure that states have the authority or even the ability to enforce restrictions at the state level," explained Deal. "It would be very hard to police it from that standpoint."
 
Should Georgia impose a ban on those sites, it's not clear what would happen to the money in players' accounts. Sources told us so far, neither site has responded to the state's letter. Channel 2 Action News was not able to reach anyone with either site for comment on our story.