Judge Bars Fantasy Sports Sites in NY

Judge Manuel Mendez’s decision threatens the future of a billion-dollar industry, but there’s still a ways to go.

There was an immediate backlash from fans of the games and even a rally outside of Schneiderman’s office after his decision was announced – though numerous attendees, it turns out, were DraftKings and FanDuel employees. Several states including MA are developing policies to regulate daily fantasy sports that the industry has said it supports, while officials in other states such as California are pushing to have them shut down. “The court specifically noted that this was not a final determination of the issue and that discovery would be needed to fully resolve the legal question, which we think should be decided in our favor when all of the evidence is in”, a spokesperson for FanDuel told Vator.

Despite claims from lawyers that DFS contests are legal in New York, Pretlow disagreed, stating that such games are legal under current state law, but also said the objective of the hearing is not to discuss this matter.

“DraftKings seeks a reversal of the trial court’s order… on the ground that it misapplied the law in granting (the preliminary injunction)”, David Boies, chairman of Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP, wrote in the filing.

In this photo taken on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2015, an ad for daily fantasy sports operator DraftKings is displayed in a subway station in Philadelphia.

In other words, Ifrah said, “it could have been much, much worse” for the daily fantasy companies. “It’s clearly a game of skill”, he said. The NBA and Major League Baseball did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The customers select a lineup of players in a particular sport and can win money based on those players’ performance.

“You can see how influenced the court was by the fact that these business were just not playing fair”, Balsam said.

FanDuel was founded in 2009, and Draft Kings started offering daily fantasy sports in 2012. Over that same period, DraftKings’ entries are down around 12 percent. But by upholding the state’s injunction in the case, the judge dealt a blow to these fantasy sports startups.

On Tuesday, DraftKings and FanDuel visited the state capitol to make their case to the Assembly Committee on Racing and Wagering.

In fact, FanDuel and DraftKings encourage participants to check the Las Vegas odds of bets on a real player’s statistics or a milestone in a given game, which are called “props” bets by casinos. “I firmly believe that when you participate in daily fantasy sports contests, knowledge is your skill”.