Daily fantasy sports sites have insisted they aren’t gambling, clinging to an exemption for fantasy sports in a 2006 federal law and argue what they offer is a game based in skill, not chance. Congress will hold hearings in November regarding the proliferation of daily fantasy sports games for money.
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“Because our game is nuanced in the fact that we allow late swaps, we allowed players who had already entered games on Thursday to be able to continue their full experience”, DraftKings wrote in an email to the New York Times. “Continued patronage of Nevada is impossible for our industry at this time”, said Paul Charchian, the organization’s president in a statement. “None of them have reported to me that they have gotten involved with (fantasy) sports betting because it’s kind of a new but It’s going to happen”.
Robins’ linkage of DFS to poker could hurt his industry’s fate moving forward as his colleagues make their case to retain daily fantasy’s skill-based understanding. A spokesperson for DraftKings did not respond to an e-mail requesting comment.
New Jersey’s casinos this week saw their three-year push to expand gambling into sports events revived when a federal appeals court decision vacated a lower court’s ruling nixing a state law allowing sports betting in casinos. Participants select “teams” from real-life pro players, then win or lose based on the statistics compiled by those players.
Legal experts said Mr. Bharara’s involvement marks a significant escalation of the legal challenges confronting the burgeoning daily fantasy-sports business. But as of Monday morning, customers in Nevada could apparently circumvent the state restriction on DraftKings, according to the publisher of another website that analyzes the daily fantasy sports industry. The Department of Justice and FBI have opened a preliminary investigation Nevada has called DraftKings and FanDuel “gambling” sites and forbidden them from operating in the state until they get gaming licenses.
Still, both companies have permanently banned their employees from playing on other daily fantasy sites. He’s been working out of the Albany Bureau since 2011, covering Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration and the state Legislature.
“Maybe this isn’t the worst thing in the world (for daily fantasy)”, Ifrah said.
Per the Board’s order, the sites are being compelled to seek a Nevada gaming license in order to resume operations.
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One day you’re the hot new startup, daily fantasy sports websites garnered intense interest from everyone from the NFL to venture capitalists in Silicon Valley.
