DraftKings and FanDuel weren't going to fly under the government radar forever. Especially when their freakin' ads bragging about how much money they were handling starting airing 24/7. Nevadaalready banned the daily fantasy sites from their state, and now New York appears to be following suit.
Today the Attorney General for the Empire State, Eric Schneiderman, ordered both sites to stop taking bets from NY. DraftKings sent an email to the rubes who use their site that read:
"Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is considering preventing New Yorkers from playing daily fantasy sports. Hey, New York, protect your right to keep playing daily fantasy sports. Contact the attorney general today!”
Later a spokeswoman, in a quote about the AG, added: “We’re disappointed he hasn’t taken the time to meet with us or ask any questions about our business model before his opinion.”
Also adding their own statement was FanDuel, who said:
“Fantasy sports is a game of skill and legal under New York state law. This is a politician telling hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers they are not allowed to play a game they love and share with friends, family, co-workers and players across the country.”
Both companies are eligible to challenge the ruling in court, and the burden of proof would be on the state to show that "chance is a factor" in their product(s). If it is, then that would make DFS gambling.
Schneiderman's investigation into each company was sparked by a DraftKings employee who accidentally revealed internal betting info, and then won $350,000 on FanDuel in the same week (Note: This is the same incident that created a pending class-action lawsuit from players).
[via New York Times]
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