FanDuel And DraftKings Banned In NY

If you’re betting on whether daily fantasy sports will remain legal in NY, the outcome of a court hearing next Wednesday will dramatically reshape the odds.

Instead, fantasy sports games have become ensnared in the web of inconsistent laws and confusing regulations governing gaming.

After the NY attorney general declared the daily fantasy sports to be illegal gambling, DraftKings hired Boies and Jonathan Schiller, who together founded the law firm of Boies Schiller & Flexner, as outside counsel.

In addition to DraftKings, FanDuel and the credit card companies, the class action names banks that issued credit cards used by the lead plaintiff, as well as the companies that processed the transactions.

– Banning employees of daily-fantasy companies from playing. “The question is whether it’s legal or illegal”, Healey said in a press conference announcing her plan to regulate the industry. DraftKings and FanDuel contests, he wrote, are about “instant gratification” and involve no long-term strategy.

Daily fantasy sports companies can continue operating in MA but there will be rules, Attorney General Maura Healey ruled Thursday. Schneiderman contends the practice violates the state’s century-old prohibition on sports betting, and he has sought to put a stop to it. But while FanDuel suspended its NY operations, and DraftKings has been called on to do the same, it takes minimal effort to find other daily fantasy games online through a number of different operators, including one owned by USA Today. That prompted a rally of angry fantasy sports players to gather outside his office. “A few good players in a poker tournament may rise to the top based on their skill; but the game is still gambling”. The two parties are battling over how much of DFS is skill and how much is up to chance.

Healey said it is unclear whether the contests are illegal under state law and noted that other state authorities, including the legislature or gaming commission, could take other steps to rein in the games in MA.

Daily fantasy sports isn’t all fun and games according to many U.S. lawmakers. The companies have been valued at more than $1 billion each.

Daily fantasy advertising must make greater disclosures as far as likelihood of winning and the average win, holding more strictly to a “truth in advertising” standard.

The revelations seemed to underscore that while especially skillful and knowledgeable players could win big in daily fantasy sports, the vast majority of participants looked more like sheep groomed for shearing. It’s the classic risk involved in sports betting.

Nevada, home to the United States’ gambling capital Las Vegas, last month ordered fantasy sports operations to cease operating in the state, determining that they were unlicensed gambling.

FanDuel and DraftKings have made the argument, over and over – including yesterday in this paper – that they run “games of skill” and are therefore legal.

Supporters of fantasy sports have long argued that a provision in a 2006 federal law allows them to operate freely in 45 states that don’t have specific prohibitions on the contests.

In this way, traditional sports gambling is like roulette, and DFS like FanDuel and DraftKings are a lot like blackjack; while one is certainly a more blatant form of gambling, both are illegal outside of the casino.