DraftKings and FanDuel face lawsuits

It promised to pursue this fight “to the fullest to ensure that NY fantasy sports fans do not need to stop playing the games they love”.

More than 600,000 FanDuel users have played from the state of ny, Eccles told reporters Wednesday on a conference call. The companies disagree with that view, of course, and are weighing their legal options during the five-day window they have to respond to the letter. “We think it’s good there’s consumer protection but we’re concerned about regulation that’s overly heavy-handed on the industry”, he says. He’ll continue to play season-long fantasy football for fun after giving FanDuel a shot.

If the industry fails to head off Schneiderman’s civil suit, it would probably seek a preliminary injunction from a NY State court declaring that daily fantasy sports don’t violate the state’s gambling laws.

In the games, participants pay entry fees and pick players to fill rosters in order to win money competing in contests against other sports buffs.

“(The attorney general) did not take any time to understand our business, or why daily fantasy sports are clearly games of skill”, the statement said.

Then on Tuesday, Schneiderman issued a cease-and-desist order to DraftKings and FanDuel “from illegally accepting wagers in ny”.

“If this is gone, I can’t relocate”. SB9 makes distinctions among games of skill, games of chance and hybrid games “while recognizing that all three are gambling games”, the attorney general’s memo said.

DraftKings and FanDuel were, not surprisingly, furious over the decision, and in a statement from DraftKings, the company applauded legislation proposed earlier in IL that looks to regulate, rather than eliminate, daily fantasy sports.

“These are not the type of operations NY gambling law is created to address”, Mr. Eccles said. That doesn’t mean other daily fantasy sports operators are in the clear. The two companies have become the subject of congressional inquiries and a ban in Nevada after spending hundreds of millions of dollars on television advertising in 2015.

“To date, our investigation has shown that the top 1 percent of [DraftKings and FanDuel] winners receive the majority of the winnings”, Schneiderman stated.

Federal regulators said last month they’re investigating FanDuel and DraftKings. “The other pro sports leagues and major companies do”. The same week, he won $350,000 on FanDuel, something both companies acknowledge.

New York-based FanDuel said urgent judicial review was necessary since its business operations were already being hurt by Schneiderman’s actions.

FanDuel’s lawyer, Sharon Cohen Levin, previously headed the money laundering and asset forfeiture unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of NY.

The NFL does not own any stake in DraftKings and FanDuel, but Pallone’s original request for a congressional hearing concentrated on the perceived “hypocrisy” of the league, a Democratic staffer with knowledge of the committee’s thinking said. FansPlay was put on notice, but is still free to court NY customers. Weitzman declined to comment.

The Boston Herald remarked that over 20 lawsuits have been filed against the companies, some of them at state level.

On that page, the website displays a message that reads “playing on DraftKings is 100% legal in the US”.