Fantasy Football Now Illegal
BY KUMAR SINGH
According to multiple reports, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has declared on Nov. 10 that daily fantasy sports is a directly considered illegal gambling in New York state. Schneiderman, who issued a cease-and-desist document stating both DraftKings & FanDuel must stop accepting users from within the New York state areas has a long battle ahead of him.
With this lengthy battle just beginning, it is far from over. Both DraftKings & FanDuel have filed separate lawsuits against the state’s attorney general and are asking the state Supreme Court to take a closer look at the issues at hand.
DraftKings has issued a public statement saying the following,
“Today, we have taken decisive legal action to prevent a unilateral, misinformed and legally misguided attempt by the New York Attorney General to act as judge, jury and executioner for daily fantasy sports in New York,”
DraftKings were very confident that they can fight and win this issue. They briefly spoke about the biggest conflict within the case.
“We are asking the New York Supreme Court to rule that the Attorney General’s cease-and-desist letter is unconstitutional, an abuse of discretion, and simply wrong. We are confident in our legal position and intend to continue to fight to preserve the right of the over 500,000 New York consumers to play the fantasy sports games they love.”
Schneiderman had made the decision to declare that DraftKings & FanDuel, stop accepting “wagers” from New York residents. He did not ask the company to stop conducting its national business in New York in regards to advertising and the promotion of the systems .
“Our review concludes that DraftKings’/FanDuel’s operations constitute illegal gambling under New York law according to the letter issued Tuesday.”
While Schneiderman’s cease-and-desist letter doesn’t stop either companies from continuing their business outside of New York, it does slightly cripple their revenue, losing anywhere from 5 to 20 million dollars in compensation.
When speaking to York attendee and Fanduel customer Yahavy Desroches he seemed soured by the whole situation.
“It just seems like New York as a state doesn’t want anyone to make money. Why can someone in Utah use the website and we can’t. Is it because New Yorker have a different insight into the sport or something ? Like I’m just so lost when it comes to the whole thing.”
When speaking about a solution Desroches didn’t see one coming anytime soon.
“They can fight it all they want I honestly think that if New York’s officials don’t want it, it’s not going to happen. That’s just the honest truth.”
While the statement makes sense it seems that this battle is far from over. Both sites are stressing the importance of sports knowledge it takes to succeed.
New York resident Lexi Moore spoke briefly about how vital it is to know the players and situations of each team.
“If you pick up the wrong player or someone that is on a bad team it can make all the difference. From what I read it seems that officials are applying that these sites accept wages from people and it’s not a guaranteed payout. People know what to expect when they sign up you shouldn’t need to hold people’s hands every step of the way.”
