“The MA Attorney General has taken a thoughtful and comprehensive approach to the Fantasy Sports Industry”, DraftKings said in a statement. The attorney general now is trying to shutter DraftKings and FanDuel, the two dominant players in the rapidly expanding fantasy sports business, contending they conduct illegal gambling and bookmaking.
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Daily fantasy sports groups like DraftKings and FanDuel have pushed back, calling their fantasy services games of skill, not chance.
ON THE LAW: FanDuel and DraftKings have made the argument, over and over – including yesterday in this paper – that they run “games of skill” and are therefore legal. FanDuel alone claims to sign up 20,000 to 30,000 players each day.
“Never until 10 days ago had anyone suggested, hinted or asserted there was anything illegal about anything FanDuel and DraftKings were doing”, Boies said. She supported an unsuccessful effort previous year to repeal a state law that allows casino gambling.
That data appears to come from this spreadsheet, which shows that NY in 2014 generated $25.6 million in “entry fees” and $2.5 million in revenue, second only to California’s $34.2 million in fees and $3.4 million in revenue. We hope this trend continues along with due consideration for over 56 million sports fans across the country who enjoy playing fantasy sports. “Advertising reached a peak in the weeks leading up to the 2015 National Football League season, when it became almost impossible to watch televised sports without encountering a (daily fantasy sports) commercial”. Statistically, this play would cost the quarterback one yard – a yard that could make the difference between someone on DraftKings or FanDuel winning or losing tens of thousands of dollars. The lawyer compared daily fantasy sports with mahjong and video-game tournaments conducted with cash prizes, which he said were different from poker games because they involve random cards being dealt. That prompted a rally of angry fantasy sports players to gather outside his office. According to FSTA meeting minutes first reported on by ESPN’s David Purdum and obtained by SI.com, Robins told association members on a conference call in May that his company’s golf and racing contests did not comply with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, a 2006 federal law aimed at inhibiting financial transactions related to illegal sports gambling. When I think of fantasy sports, I think of guys like Ruxin from “The League”.
“There is a very small subset of professional players who use sophisticated software and algorithms and through their experience, through their expertise, are in fact able to win the vast majority of these contests”, said Healey, who said she has not tried the games herself.
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The state will hold public hearings on the attorney general’s proposal in January. It also forbid companies from adverting the gambling to high school and college students.
