FanDuel and DraftKings are betting a judge will see fantasy sports as games of skill, rather than illegal gambling operations that New York’s attorney general want shut down.
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New York-based FanDuel made similar claims.
FanDuel also released a statement Friday saying, “As we said, this week was only the beginning of the legal process”.
In its filing, DraftKings asked a court to declare that the shutdown is unconstitutional and demanded that the courts block the AG from taking any further action.
The NY court cases could help settle this debate over games of skill vs. chance-or perhaps even contribute to the creation of a new category. The game has been played – legally – in NY for years and years, but after the Attorney General realized he could now get himself a few press coverage, he decided a game that has been around for a long, long time is suddenly now not legal.
About a hundred people, including a significant number of daily fantasy sports site workers, protested Schneiderman’s decision on Friday outside his office.
“I feel like once NY does this, a lot of other state attorney generals will do the same”, said George Harlamon, 29, a construction worker who traveled from Waterbury, Connecticut, to protest. That investigation is still ongoing, and the Bureau is also looking into the practices of both companies in the states where they are prohibited.
“Opponents of fantasy sports are determined to take away our right to play, so we need to make our voices heard before it’s too late”, FanDuel wrote in its email.
DraftKings said in its lawsuit that Schneiderman was “using strong-arm tactics and defying the rule of law”. Both lawsuits were filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan.
Both DraftKings and FanDuel allege that Schneiderman contacted payment operators and encouraged them to discontinue financial transactions to NY customers of the sites or else the payment operators would “face repercussions”.
NY is not alone in trying to stop the sites.
One of the two daily fantasy sports industry giants will stop accepting deposits from users in NY amid its battle with state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
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A DraftKings Web page asking “Why is it legal” states succinctly that “daily fantasy sports is a skill game and is not considered gambling”.
