Fantasy sports have been around for a while as millions of owners play yearly. Recently, daily fantasy sports operators DraftKings and FanDuel have taken over the market. Their advertisements are all over the place, the league’s are growing daily and everyone is excited about their daily chances to win big. DraftKings, FanDuel and New Yorker who play daily fantasy sports, just received some horrible news. New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman declared that daily fantasy sports constitutes illegal gambling in his state and has sent operators DraftKings and FanDuel cease-and-desist notices.
“Our review concludes that DraftKings’/FanDuel’s operations constitute illegal gambling under New York law,” Schneiderman wrote in the letter, obtained by ESPN’s David Purdum and Darren Rovell, and ABC News.
According to Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforce Act of 2006, Schneiderman has discovered that “each DraftKing and FanDuel wager represents a wager on a ‘contest of chance’ where winning or losing depends on numerous elements of chance to a ‘material degree.'” Because of this, Schneiderman stats that “people are clearly placing bets on events outside their control of influence, specifically on the real game performance of professional athletes.”
The one bit of good news for New Yorkers is that the attorney general’s office has made it clear they are not expecting to get any money back from those who have won through the daily fantasy sites.
This is huge news which makes me wonder if other states could follow. I’ve always wondered how daily fantasy sports were different in any way and viewed as legal but it looks like they illegal the whole time.
HT: ESPN