New York sends cease-and-desist notices to DraftKings, FanDuel

[bluedigger]

Source: ESPN

New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman declared Tuesday that daily fantasy sports constitutes illegal gambling in his state and sent game operators DraftKings and FanDuel cease-and-desist notices in a significant blow to the embattled billion-dollar industry.

Schneiderman demanded DraftKings and FanDuel, the two industry giants, stop accepting "wagers" from New York residents and discontinue operations in the state.

"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.

During their rampant growth, daily fantasy sites have pointed to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 in regard to their legality and have claimed they offer games of skill. But Schneiderman found that "each DraftKings/FanDuel wager represents a wager on a 'contest of chance' where winning or losing depends on numerous elements of chance to a 'material degree.'"

Read more: http://espn.go.com/chalk/story/_/id/14100780/newyork-attorney-general-declares-daily-fantasy-sports-gambling

[geek tragedy]

1. fantastic use of law enforcement resources nt

[DinahMoeHum]

2. Next move: get rid of those dumb-fuck commercials.

Gawd, I HATE hearing them every hour every day.

[JackRiddler]

14. This is what I was thinking.

These are pungent, loud and insulting (because so incredibly stupid).

I wish Schneiderman had made a precedent by prosecuting these companies not for gambling, but for fraudulent advertising. At no point do they mention odds, or how much gets paid in to produce the supposed weekly payout. Everyone's just making a million on a $10 bet, or whatever bullshit they're saying.

These ads are not just stupid but very clearly pitched to working the stupid (who are indispensable to the business model).

Of course, if they went after the private sector for doing this, they'd have to admit what a scam the state-run lottery is. They're running equally penetrating and stupid ads all the damn time. It's an interesting contrast, all the state/city moralistic lifestyle ads (be polite, don't eat fatty foods, be watchful for terrorism, protect yourself, avoid frottage on the subway, blah blah) combined with the Lotto ads from the same government: "Oh yeah, when you get that quarter billion you can say FUCK YOU to everyone and act like the dumbest most corrupt asshole and get away with it because money -- fuck yeah!"

[tabasco]

17. And all the pop-up windows spam too. n/t

[Kingofalldems]

3. Great. I hate fantasy any sport.

[christx30]

4. I hate a lot of things.

Sports, rap, cigarettes. I just don't advocate banning them.

[Kingofalldems]

6. Tell that to the state of NY.

[Nye Bevan]

5. So I assume he also wants to ban the state lottery? (nt)

[Earth_First]

7. Essentially the same logic...nt

[truthisfreedom]

8. Amazing, isn't it?

The gall of government?

[christx30]

9. Naaa. Because the state of New York

gets money from that kind of gambling. They don't get any money from FanDuel. That's the only difference.

[jmowreader]

10. "Games of skill": the last refuge of someone running an illegal casino

You'll love this: Up the road a piece from me is a tribal casino. They run, as all tribal casinos do, under a gaming compact with the state. Theirs says, in no uncertain terms, No Table Games. Only machine games are allowed.

In 2014, they built a poker room at their casino.

When the state took them to court to shut down the poker room (which was accomplished; there is no poker room out there now), the tribe claimed poker was a game of skill.

In the instant case...haven't these assholes ever thought about buying a couple of congressmen, like the beer companies do? They're pretty cheap nowadays and do come in handy.

[SwankyXomb]

11. Now that the NY AG is involved

the people that should be worried are the professional leagues headquartered in New York, including Major League Baseball, which owns a big chunk of DraftKings.

[apnu]

12. I find it ironic since MLB, like all the other leagues, is a non-profit

And yet they're hip deep in gambling?

Don't worry tho. Sports rules almost every level of American life. If MLB and the NFL are this deep into these new fantasy gambling rackets, they will stay. These leagues have the clout and the money to make anything they desire happen.

[Yavin4]

13. The NY AG is protecting the big casino interests in NY

NY has 20 casinos in the state, and these fantasy sports sites are a direct threat to them. Why go out to some remote location to gamble when you can do so directly from your home or place of work?

[closeupready]

15. Personally, I think many are missing the real point.

Schneiderman is likely going after them not because they compete with B&M casinos here (there aren't that many to begin with), but rather, in the aftermath of the discovery that fantasy sports personnel have been betting and winning big on competing fantasy sports sites.

It smells like cheating, and while the investigations are still ongoing, it seems like he's probably seen quite enough to know that this is exactly what's going on - small-time bettors are getting fleeced.

As I have said before, I think people should be able to spend their money on entertainment as they see fit, including a flutter online every now and then, but it has to be fair, and this is not.

[DinahMoeHum]

16. IOW, make fantasy sports legal, but regulate them like hell.

Just like what is done for casinos, lotteries, OTB racing, etc.

Right now, FanDuel, DraftKings, etc. operate with a loophole in the gaming laws indicating that somehow what they do and promote isn't really gambling but games of skill.

Bullshit.

If they want to do business in NY, they will have to be regulated and taxed, just like the rest of the gambling games.

Close the damn loophole.