Schneiderman said in his Daily News column that 89% of one site’s players are losers, despite the endless ads from DraftKings and FanDuel that promise easy money.
Advertisement
The minutes also quote Robins noting that UIGEA defers to state gambling laws, and thus “the only relevant question” was whether DraftKings was violating any state laws.
Shkolnik does his best to pinpoint his belief that daily fantasy is gambling in his 45-page criminal suit. But Boies claimed the numbers only prove that fantasy sports are contests of skill. “In the meantime, there are a large number of well-known public companies that have invested in DraftKings and FanDuel”.
Walt Disney Co., owner of ESPN, backed out of an investment in DraftKings this summer over concerns about conflicts of interest, but the fantasy firm remains a key ESPN advertiser. Boies, who once prosecuted Microsoft in an antitrust lawsuit and boasts a roster of high-profile former clients that include CBS and Al Gore, calmly fielded questions today for over an hour from endemic and mainstream media, including the likes of Fox News, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and MSNBC.
A two-dollar buy-in isn’t gambling, I would think to myself.
FanDuel and DraftKings would face regulations, but nothing that would endanger their businesses.
Gambling in the state is prohibited under New York’s constitution.
Schneiderman said, “FanDuel was created by a veteran of the legal online betting industry in the United Kingdom, while the CEO of DraftKings suggested that it operates in the ‘gambling space, ‘ and described its revenue model as ‘identical to a casino'”. – As the legal wrangling over fantasy sports websites heats up, the PGA Tour recently clarified its policy regarding online gambling. Discussion of the issue should resume in January when the 2016 Session convenes.
“It’s like blackjack vs roulette”, he told me. That said, how these players ultimately fare on the field is completely left up to chance.
Boies argued the games are based on skill and do not have a material element of chance, a distinction that could be key.
Companies such as FanDuel and DraftKings brought the concept of more immediate gaming and results so that fans don’t have to wait an entire sports season to learn if they have been successful with their choices.
Daily fantasy games will generate about $2.6 billion this year in entry fees, an industry euphemism for wagers, growing 41% annually to an estimated $14.4 billion by 2020, according to Eilers Research in Anaheim.
MA will not follow the lead of NY Attorney general Eric Schneiderman, who this week declared daily fantasy “plainly illegal” and filed suit to shut providers down in the state.
A few experts disagree. “It’s gambling”, declares Timothy Fong, co-director of the gambling studies program at UCLA. He argues that daily games incorporate more chance than season-long fantasy leagues, in which random developments cancel each other out over time.
Customers don’t just get irritated when you screw up cross-channel personalization.
Advertisement
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.
