Ahead of hearing, DraftKings and FanDuel file opposition to NY Attorney

A judge is expected to hear different interpretations of gambling laws at a hearing on how the country’s two biggest daily fantasy sports companies operate in NY.

State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and daily fantasy sports behemoths DraftKings and FanDuel are scheduled to go to court Wednesday over Schneiderman’s attempt to bar the companies from taking bets in NY.

The hearing is slated to begin at noon in Manhattan.

New York-based FanDuel temporarily has blocked New Yorkers from participating in its games while the case is under way, citing Schneiderman’s pressuring of its payment processors. No court interpreting NY law or a similar statute has held that the paying of such an entry fee constitutes “staking or risking” the amount of that fee.

Both DraftKings and FanDuel argue that DFS are a contest of skill and that chance is not a material element of the contests, which is required to meet the definition of gambling in NY and asserted in the state’s filings.

“The opposition brief shows that (daily fantasy sports) is as legal today as it has been for years and demonstrates that DFS competitions require more skill, and entail less chance, than seasonal fantasy sports”, DraftKings wrote in legal papers filed Tuesday.

The Democrat has called daily fantasy sports “nothing more than a rebranding of sports betting” and “plainly illegal”.

Boies and partner Jonathan Schiller, also on DraftKing’s legal team, are experienced in sports-related issues, having represented the National Football League in antitrust litigation, as as NBA players in a collective bargaining suit. In MA, the attorney general has proposed new regulations governing fantasy sports.