Locals split on NY’s ban on daily fantasy sports

U.S. Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., blasted NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s recent decision to ban fantasy sports companies DraftKings and FanDuel from accepting bets in the state.

The NY attorney general’s decision that daily fantasy sports betting sites FanDuel and DraftKings are illegal gambling operations is a blow to the companies, but the industry could have more legal headaches yet to come.

And an investigation by The NY Times revealed fantasy sports company employees supplemented their salaries by winning games at rival sites, selecting hidden stars with data gleaned from their day jobs. DraftKings, for instance, is supposed to be on the hook for half a billion dollars in ad spending with ESPN and Fox Sports over the next few years.

The week after the insider trading news broke, the two companies logged a combined 7.1 million entries and $43.6 million, according to research firm SuperLobby.

“New York’s actions today are an unfortunate example of a state government stifling innovation, technology and entrepreneurship and acting without full and fair consideration of the interests of consumers”, the statement added.

If you follow sports, chances are you have heard of the online fantasy sites Draft Kings and FanDuel.

TSN’s parent company, Bell Media, is a part owner of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd.

The event’s lineup includes the premiere of “Perfect Lineup”, a documentary about daily fantasy sports. It’s unclear how many Canadians participate.

In October the NCAA barred daily fantasy sites from advertising during March Madness, but FanDuel sponsors “The Final Drive”, a college sports highlights show on the Big Ten Network. That claim also formed the backbone of Bourgeois’s conclusions.

“The National Football League and its teams do not have equity stakes in these companies”, McCarthy said in an email.

“What he failed to do, I think, is look properly at the determination of this business model as something that is much more clearly a game of skill”, Coakley said.

It’s unclear whether sports leagues that have invested in daily fantasy sports companies have exposure – civil or criminal – after Schneiderman’s order.

“At the very least the leagues are putting their investments at risk”, Bourgeois said. The companies could also go to court themselves and ask a judge to declare that their operations are legal. “What was the due diligence of the investor’s board of governors?” “Just because it’s gambling doesn’t make it illegal”. In Florida and Arizona, it’s illegal to wager on contests of chance or skill.

“They’re Giants fans, and even though they can watch the game at home, they’re coming out now because they can watch so many other games and see what their fantasy players are doing”, Diraddo explained. The Gibson Dunn team is led by Randy Mastro, co-chair of Gibson Dunn’s Litigation Practice Group and one of the nation’s leading litigators. He wins pools with friends but can’t crack the 50th percentile of big-money pools where full-time fantasy players dominate. “If it’s possible for them to use that information and make money at it, then you need to have safeguards and policies in place”.