Where you can play

This page is not legal advice, and we are not lawyers. It tells you what we read on one date and what we couldn't confirm. Before you pay anything, read your operator's current terms and its location rules.

Location

Operators decide where they take entries, and they can change their lists. FanDuel's terms, updated July 16, 2026, say that when you deposit or enter a paid contest you must not be "physically located" in Hawaii, Connecticut, Idaho, Montana, Nevada or Washington. The test there is where you are at that moment, not where you live.

That is one operator's page, and even it has a loose end. The same section also lists Connecticut as available, so the terms contradict themselves. We can't tell you which line governs. If you are in Connecticut, ask FanDuel. Its terms also exclude certain Louisiana parishes, so a state can be split.

We haven't read DraftKings' current terms, so nothing here comes from them. Read them yourself using the link below.

Age

There is no single national age. FanDuel's terms set 18 as the minimum, with 19 in Alabama and 21 in Virginia, Massachusetts, Arizona and Louisiana. Other operators publish their own rules. Read your operator's page, because those numbers are that operator's, on that date.

California

California's Attorney General issued Opinion No. 23-1001 on July 3, 2025. It answers yes to whether state law prohibits daily fantasy games for players physically in California, wherever the operator is based. Its conclusion reads: "daily fantasy sports games, including both pick'em and draft style games, are prohibited by section 337a because they involve betting on sporting events." Draft style includes salary-cap contests. Read the opinion.

The opinion did not decide whether these games are also illegal lotteries. It said that turns on whether skill or chance predominates, a question of fact it could not answer.

Here is what the opinion doesn't do. It doesn't bind courts. In a class action over DraftKings' California contests, US District Judge Charles Breyer wrote on July 29, 2026 that "no court—state or federal—has declared online fantasy sports betting illegal in California." He dismissed the claims to recover gambling losses and the racketeering claims, and let consumer-protection claims go forward for an injunction and a declaration. For that stage he assumed the games are illegal, because DraftKings didn't argue the point, so the order doesn't settle the question.

FanDuel's July 2026 terms still list California as available. The same order says "There have been no enforcement actions by the California Department of Justice," and we found none since, but that only means we didn't find one. If you are in California, treat this as an open question that carries risk, and read the opinion.

Texas

Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a non-binding opinion in January 2016 that called paid daily fantasy contests illegal gambling. FanDuel's terms list Texas as available and add this line: "FanDuel makes no representation that participation in paid entry fantasy sports contests is lawful under Texas state law."

What moves, and how fast

Availability changes with little notice. RotoWire reported in September 2026 that one operator would stop taking new entries in a fantasy product in seven states. Pick'em and prediction apps are moving fastest, and we cover that separately on the pick'em page.

What we do not know

• A reliable list of states that license paid DFS. We don't print one.
• DraftKings' current location and age rules for salary-cap contests.
• Whether any state takes action after the date on this page.

Read the terms yourself

• FanDuel terms
• DraftKings terms

We link to these so you can read the rules. They are not offers, and FCT recommends no operator. Being able to log in doesn't settle whether you may play where you are.

If money spent on DFS is becoming a problem, Responsible Play has who to call.

Facts checked Nov 5, 2026.