It appears Draftkings have come out fighting over the New York Attorney Generals attempt to shut down daily fantasy sports sites.
Possibly preparing for a lengthy and costly battle, Draftkings is suing the New York Attorney General for what they deem an “unconstitutional” attempt at shutting down daily fantasy sports betting the Boston Globe Reports.
In its legal filing Friday, DraftKings asked the court to declare Schneiderman’s order unconstitutional and block him from attempting to take further action against the company. It also asked a judge to declare the games legal under New York law, saying they “are complex games of skill” that differ from poker and other kinds of casino-style betting.
“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 said in a statement.
DraftKings also said it had hired another high-powered lawyer: David Boies, who argued the Democratic case in Bush v. Gore, the dispute over the 2000 presidential election. Previously, it said it had retained Randy Mastro, who served as chief of staff and deputy mayor under former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“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,” DraftKings said.
On Friday morning, several hundred self-proclaimed fantasy sports players gathered outside Schneiderman’s office in lower Manhattan to protest his ban on the games according to WSBT-TV.