In mid-November 2016 the two largest daily fantasy football companies, DraftKings & FanDuel, announced a merger of equals. The thinking was that instead of pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into continuing to fight each other, they could fight legal and political battles together & continue to expand.

When the news broke, ReCode quoted “the merger still needs to pass regulatory approval, but it’s hard to imagine that will be a problem.” So why haven’t we heard anything substantial since then? Why have almost four months gone by with no news of a confirmed merger?

A period of silence of over 30 days following a merger announcement in the US is usually a clear indicator of regulatory & antitrust issues according to legal expert Marc Edelman.

Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act, after both parties have filed to the Department of Justice & Federal Trade Commission, they must “wait a period of 30 days” before the deal can be completed.

FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles recently interviewed on Bloomberg, where he stated:

”As expected, we’re engaging the FTC, they’re reviewing the transaction and that process is going well. And we’ll continue on the timeline we announced previously.”

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