Daily fantasy ads absent from Jets-Bills broadcast

On Tuesday, NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ordered DraftKings and FanDuel, its main daily fantasy rival, to cease operations in the state, saying daily fantasy sports sites violate state laws that prohibit sports gambling. But she said that doesn’t make it “illegal” and has promised to release recommendations on how to regulate the industry in the state by year’s end. Now the state of NY has declared that the websites constitute illegal gambling and told them to shut down. Both sites advertise heavily in NY City and around the country. The companies pointed to Schneiderman’s mention that a small amount of people won most of the money on the sites, arguing that this proved their offerings were in fact a game of skill. The company also suggested that Schneiderman is engaged in bullying activities, abusing his powers and “telling hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers they are not allowed to play a game they love”.

DraftKings has hired Randy Mastro, Rudy Giuliani’s deputy mayor, as its chief counsel according to the NY Post.

The DraftKings suit accused the state official of “using strong-arm tactics and defying the rule of law” by sending a “cease-and-desist” letter to the company and then threatening legal action against its business partners. “DraftKings and FanDuel are operating illegal sports betting websites under NY law, causing the same kinds of social and economic harms as other forms of illegal gambling”. Today we have sent a clear message: “not in NY, and not on my watch”.

In emails sent Thursday, FanDuel and DraftKings issued a call to action to users in the state of California, in response to a November 2 letter sent by Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-Marin County) – and first obtained by the Register – that alleged daily fantasy sports to be illegal under California state law. Looks like DraftKings has and you can bet FanDuel aren’t far behind.

The NY attorney general is pressuring at least two payment processors to cut ties with daily fantasy sports sites, a court filing says. There is an entry fee to participate and cash prizes are paid out depending on fantasy teams’ performance and success.

DraftKings and FanDuel are valued at more than $1 billion each, according to Bloomberg, “and have drawn investors from across the sports, media and venture capital industries”.

The games have spawned a cottage industry of blogs, magazines and apps to provide advice and information to players. Traditional, season-long fantasy sports are not implicated by the AG’s action.

One protester, a software engineer who gave her name only as Nicole, said fantasy sports is a challenge.