FanDuel, DraftKings Illegal in Illinois: AG

The Illinois Attorney General has decided that DraftKings and FanDuel are conducting illegal gambling operations in that state and wants the companies to shut down there unless and until the state legislature legalizes them.

The big “weekly fantasy sports” operators, including DraftKings and Fan Duel, are banding together in Texas, starting a political action committee to fight back against talk of declaring the games to be illegal gambling, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

Madigan said the proposal is pending legislation that would exempt daily fantasy sports under that law.

DraftKings and FanDuel can now operate in NY while they appeal an injunction barring the sites from the state.

“Persons whose wagers depend upon how particular, selected athletes perform in actual sporting events stand in no different stead than persons who wager on the outcome of any sporting event in which they are not participants”, Madigan wrote.

“Chicago may be the best sports town in the country. Texas is a state that embraces innovation and consumer freedom, and it would be a shame for that to be tainted by an act of government overreach”, said Jeremy Kudon, a spokesman for Fantasy Sports for All, a so-called grassroots organization formed to urge lawmakers to support fantasy sports games. Madigan’s opinion made no such orders. “Obviously, a court is not bound by her decision and ultimately the judge presiding in those cases may very well disagree with her opinion”, Ifrah said. “The League” is even set in IL. “A sports town like Chicago and a sports loving state like IL deserves nothing less”.

DraftKings and FanDuel are now illegal for IL residents to play.