Maine Wants to Tax Fantasy Sports Leagues

With billions of dollars involved in fantasy sports, Maine wants a piece of the pie. Millions of fans play fantasy sports each year and this time of year fantasy baseball leagues are starting.

Legislators in Maine are looking to regulate and tax fantasy sports leagues. Under a new proposal and depending on the leagues revenue, anyone operating a fantasy league would have to register with the Maine Department of Public Safety and pay a fee of $5,000.

There are many free leagues that people join and if the league is free to join then the bill wouldn’t apply to them. But on sunjournal.com and the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, the average amount a fantasy player spends on a league is $465 a year. Under the proposed bill it would be illegal to operate a sport fantasy league in Maine without registering it every year.