NY appeals court suspends fantasy sports shutdown

Schneiderman’s office considers daily fantasy contests to be a form of gambling, while DraftKings and FanDuel argue they offer games of skill.

Both DraftKings and FanDuel have said they have hundreds of thousands of customers in NY, and Schneiderman’s office has estimated that the two companies account for 90 to 95 percent of the daily fantasy sports market.

Beyond that, legislators in NY already have said they would try to change NY law to make daily fantasy sports legal in the state.

DraftKings and FanDuel have suffered a huge blow in their legal battle to continue to operate in the state of NY.

Mendez drew on the gambling law’s definition of “contest of chance”, which says that the outcome turns “in a material degree” on chance, even if skill plays a role.

Both DraftKings and FanDuel plan to appeal the ruling, reports Reuters, and in a statement about the decision FanDuel wrote “New Yorkers have been able to legally play our games for more than six years, and today’s preliminary decision was wrong and we expect we will ultimately be successful”.

The attorney general has also maintained that the fantasy sites are not akin to normal sports fantasy betting because customers only play games based on a day or a week of action, rather than following a fantasy league through an entire season. A full panel of the judges will then rule on whether the companies can do business in in the state while the appeals process unfolds.

“They’re going to grasp at any type of optimism and build it up to be a sea change in the litigation”, said sports attorney Daniel Wallach. But today’s decision will still more than likely have reverberating effects in other states that have scheduled upcoming hearings to discuss the legality of DFS, including California, another state that is prime ground for players. Chances are, we are heading for a drawn-out trial that will determine the legality of daily fantasy sports.

Daily fantasy has also taken heat in Washington. FanDuel complied with the letter, but DrafKings has kept their business going normally in the State of NY despite the letter.

It is not yet known how the decision will impact active bills in the legislature that deal with DFS in NY, with assemblyman Dean Murray having put forward a bill just this week in an effort to alter state law over DFS.

Fantasy sports began in 1980 and has been very popular online.

Included in those protections are defining what is considered daily fantasy sports in IL, establishing best practices for daily fantasy operators, preventing players from overplaying and barring anyone under 18 from playing.