Daily fantasy sports websites continue under scrutiny

The company noted that it has partnerships with Fox Sports, Major League Baseball, the National Hockey League, Major League Soccer, and the owners of the New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, NY Knicks, New York Rangers, and Los Angeles Dodgers. “On that record, and because there will be an emergency hearing next week, the Court determined that no TRO was necessary”. Schneiderman’s office also did not have an immediate comment on the motion.

A Texas lawmaker has asked the state attorney general to determine if the sites should be operating in Lone Star State. It is seeking the injunction in part so that it can resume regular operations, it said. “He has unleashed an irresponsible, irrational, and illegal campaign to destroy a legitimate industry, intending to deprive hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers of the use and enjoyment of these services”.

NY Supreme Court Justice Manuel Mendez has rejected the DFS operators’ applications for temporary restraining orders against Schneiderman’s C&D order.

While the fight is ongoing, FanDuel has stopped taking on new customers from NY.

DraftKings, in a statement issued after the order, said the company “is confident in our legal position”. DraftKings said the cutoff would “massively disrupt” its businesses and the company would not be able to quickly find replacement processors.

Sports fantasy sites FanDuel and DraftKings, have been ordered to stop accepting bets in the state of NY as of Tuesday.

DraftKings’ attorneys blasted Schneiderman’s edict as an “unconstitutional” denial of due process, and decried the attorney general’s attempts to “strong-arm” its payment processors. The brouhaha comes amid an explosion of online fantasy sports wagering, buttressed by professional sports fans being bombarded by television and online commercials from the two competing companies.

FanDuel generated revenue of $57.3m for the full year 2014, more than four times the $14.2m generated the previous year, while DraftKings ‘ annual revenue ascended from $4m to $30m for the same period.

In fantasy sports, players assemble a virtual roster of real-life sports stars and compete for the highest point totals based on those athletes’ performance.

FanDuel Inc. may learn by the end of the week whether the football-heavy Thanksgiving holiday will bring a feast or starvation for daily fantasy sports players in one of the burgeoning business’s biggest US markets.

Both are central components of the games FanDuel and DraftKings offer.