After squaring off with New York’s attorney general on Monday, daily fantasy sports company DraftKings said it would continue to let New Yorkers play.
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Schneiderman last week demanded in a “cease-and-desist” letter that the sites quit operating in the Empire State because he says they’re illegal gambling operations, a charge they vehemently deny. Both have announced plans to fight the ban legally, although as of November 13th, FanDuel stopped taking deposits from players in NY.
In seeking the restraining orders, the companies said that Schneiderman’s office had been pressuring their vendors to stop doing business with them, and they could be forced to close up shop in the state.
But in a 45-page filing, DraftKings accused Schneiderman, a Democrat, of trying to “banish” the company from NY without providing it with enough time to adequately defend itself.
“If we’re going to de facto legalize sports gambling across the USA, we should at least do it on objective and not because two companies have somehow weasled out a way to pretend that they are not something that they clearly are”, says Oliver. He has unleashed an irresponsible, irrational, and illegal campaign to destroy a legitimate industry, intending to deprive hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers of the use and enjoyment of these services. With fantasy sports, the players’ actions are subject to as many variables as picking a victor against the spread. As anyone with a TV knows, those days are long gone-daily fantasy games like DraftKings and FanDuel now dominate.
Schneiderman’s office didn’t immediately respond to an email request for comment on the temporary restraining order motion filed Monday. One allegation is that a DraftKings employee won $350,000 from rival FanDuel.
DraftKings’ attorneys blasted Schneiderman’s edict as an “unconstitutional” denial of due process, and decried the attorney general’s attempts to “strong-arm” its payment processors. “This bill further protects the rights of businesses and individuals who wish to engage in this type of commerce in the state of NY”.
Popular websites FanDuel and DraftKings dominate an industry projected to rake in $14 billion by 2020.
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“We’ve only warned the two companies that we believe are online gambling”, he said.
