---
type: "Bill"
title: "AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INTERACTIVE FANTASY CONTESTS."
description: "An estimated 100,000 people in Delaware participate in some form of fantasy sports, whether it is a football or baseball league with their friends and family, or more recently, a daily or weekly contest against players from across the country. This legislation confirms that those contests are \"games of skill\" and, therefore, not a form of illegal gambling under Delaware law. It also requires operators to apply for a license and comply with some of the strictest consumer protection safeguards in the nation. Finally, the legislation subjects operators of paid fantasy sports contests to a 15% tax on their net adjusted revenues, as well as a $50,000 annual fee."
jurisdiction: "us/states/de"
legislature: "Delaware General Assembly"
session: "149"
identifier: "HB 249"
citation: "Delaware HB 249 (149)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Charles Potter Jr.", "David P. Sokola"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 16
vote_count: 4
first_action: "2017-06-20"
last_action: "2017-07-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/448193bd-7125-452e-b105-a5113c93f81a"
source_url: "https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?LegislationId=26015"
source_hash: "3b8cdea4ad5ee2cc2c133449c0a2db211da59e8199ba39cd40c8521ff92b8f8e"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-de"]
---

# Delaware HB 249 (149) — AN ACT TO AMEND TITLE 29 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO INTERACTIVE FANTASY CONTESTS.

An estimated 100,000 people in Delaware participate in some form of fantasy sports, whether it is a football or baseball league with their friends and family, or more recently, a daily or weekly contest against players from across the country. This legislation confirms that those contests are "games of skill" and, therefore, not a form of illegal gambling under Delaware law. It also requires operators to apply for a license and comply with some of the strictest consumer protection safeguards in the nation. Finally, the legislation subjects operators of paid fantasy sports contests to a 15% tax on their net adjusted revenues, as well as a $50,000 annual fee.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **Bill Text** (committee substitute) — [source](https://legis.delaware.gov/json/BillDetail/GenerateHtmlDocument?legislationId=26015&legislationTypeId=1&docTypeId=2&legislationName=HB249)

## Votes

- 3/5 — **28–6** (pass) · lower
- 3/5 — **13–7** (pass) · upper
- 3/5 — **36–4** (pass) · lower
- 3/5 — **10–11** (fail) · upper

## Sponsors

- Charles Potter Jr. — primary (person)
- David P. Sokola — primary (person)
- Bryon H. Short — cosponsor (person)
- Colin Bonini — cosponsor (person)
- David B. McBride — cosponsor (person)
- Helene M. Keeley — cosponsor (person)
- Nicole Poore — cosponsor (person)
- Peter C. Schwartzkopf — cosponsor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-06-20** Introduced and Assigned to Gaming & Parimutuels Committee in House `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-21** Reported Out of Committee (Gaming & Parimutuels) in House with 5 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2017-06-27** Amendment HA 1 to HB 249 - Introduced and Placed With Bill `amendment-introduction`
- **2017-06-27** Amendment HA 1 to HA 1 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2017-06-27** Amendment HA 1 to HB 249 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2017-06-27** Amendment HA 2 to HB 249 - Passed In House by Voice Vote `amendment-passage`
- **2017-06-27** Passed By House. Votes: 28 YES 6 NO 2 NOT VOTING 5 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-06-27** Assigned to Executive Committee in Senate `introduction, referral-committee`
- **2017-06-28** Reported Out of Committee (Executive) in Senate with 4 On Its Merits `committee-passage`
- **2017-06-29** Amendment SA 1 to HB 249 - Passed By Senate. Votes: 21 YES `amendment-passage`
- **2017-06-29** Defeated By Senate. Votes: 10 YES 11 NO `failure`
- **2017-06-30** Reconsidered in Senate
- **2017-06-30** Roll Call Rescinded in Senate
- **2017-06-30** Passed By Senate. Votes: 13 YES 7 NO 1 NOT VOTING `passage`
- **2017-06-30** Passed By House. Votes: 36 YES 4 NO 1 ABSENT `passage`
- **2017-07-26** Signed by Governor `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/448193bd-7125-452e-b105-a5113c93f81a`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official Delaware legislature records).