Representatives from Draft Kings and FanDuel - the nation's two biggest fantasy sports operations - testified together Wednesday supporting state Sen. Kurt Schaefer's bill to regulate their businesses.
Two smaller fantasy sports operators also urged lawmakers to pass Schaefer's bill.
No one opposed the idea during this week's meeting of the Senate's Progress and Development Committee.
"Obviously, fantasy sports are something that have grown in popularity in the last few years," Schaefer, R-Columbia, told the panel.
His bill eyes a uniform concept of regulation as other states have done, Schaefer said.
Under the bill, fantasy contests would not be considered gambling in Missouri, he said, because "these are games more of skill than pure gambling of chance."
Derek Hein, Draft Kings' manager of government affairs, told committee members there are about two to three dozen fantasy sports operators nationwide, and his company and FanDuel share about 95 percent of those players.
"We have been, we believe, legally operating in Missouri for several years now," Hein said. "But, based on some things that have happened in the press, now is the appropriate time to come forth with some consumer protections, to make sure that the one million people playing fantasy sports in Missouri are protected and to make sure those consumers have a place to come if there is a complaint."
Schaefer's bill would require fantasy sports operators to register with the Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration; file their rules of procedures with the state; require players to be at least 18; keep player funds separate from operational funds and get an annual audit from an independent accounting firm.
Sean Ostrow, FanDuel's manager of government affairs, noted both companies already have stringent online registration processes to verify players are at least 18 and have a source of funds they can spend on the online contests.
"It goes through a pretty rigorous verification process, not unlike what you would do to obtain a mortgage," Ostrow told the senators, "so that we can verify the identity of the player."
But that personal information is confidential, and Schaefer's bill would require that same confidentiality in Missouri.
Once registered, Ostrow said, "You're free to enter as many contests as you like - because it is a daily game, there's always contests coming up. On a typical day, you might have upwards of 1,000 different contests."
Both men said their companies set limits on what a player can deposit into an account each month, but that varies from state to state, depending on individual state regulations.
Hein noted both Draft Kings and FanDuel have relationships with many major league sports franchises.
Draft Kings, he said, has "relationships with the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals and the St. Louis Cardinals and Blues. These sports organizations understand the value that fantasy sports has in engaging the entertainment experience of the people who are watching their games."
The games have been ruled as gambling in other states, witnesses acknowledged, but those cases still are in the courts.
Charlie Wiegert, St. Louis, executive director of CDM Sports and founder of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, noted his organization went to federal court to get access to Major League Baseball game statistics.
"A federal judge ruled in our favor," Wiegert said. "Baseball statistics used for fantasy games were in the public domain."
He said more than 50 million Americans play fantasy sports, and he put the Missouri number at more than 900,000.
"We have been profitable for 20 straight years, and we support the consumer protections in the proposed bill," St. Louisan Tim Jenkins, who heads RealTime Fantasy Sports, told the committee.
"But we want to ensure, as a small company, that you understand that any costs or burdens that are put upon us don't make it difficult or impossible to operate in the state."
Of the nearly one million fantasy sports players in the state, he added, "Only about 5 percent play for money."