By: Dallas J. Short
DraftKings and FanDuel are the industry leading providers of daily fantasy sports, but after this morning’s decision, they will not be allowed to operate in New York (for now, at least.) The 600,000+ New Yorkers who use the sites are out of luck.
New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman originally filed an enforcement action in New York State Supreme Court on Nov. 17, seeking a preliminary injunction against the fantasy sites that allow players to compete against each other for money. It took Supreme Court Justice Manuel J. Mendez two weeks to decide, but has barred DraftKings and FanDuel from “accepting entry fees, wagers or bets from New York consumers in regards to any competition, game or contest” on the websites.
The two company’s ads and promotions have been ramped up this year and have blanketed the sports world. They must remove their signage from the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets during national games. FanDuel, which is headquartered in New York, and DraftKings, which has a satellite office in Manhattan but is based in Boston, can still operate their national businesses out of those locations but they cannot do business with anyone within the state.
DraftKings has already said they are disappointed and filing an appeal, I’d be surprised if FanDuel didn’t do the same. Both are very popular and simple to use. You don’t have to spend a lot of money and you can always quit. It has added more excitement for a lot of people to games or sports that had been losing interest in. If you are not sure what the Daily Fantasy Sites are, here’s a quick breakdown.
FanDuel (started in 2009): Choose your league for the day: play against your friends or take on opponents across the country. Pick the players you want: they use a salary cap format — so every player has a price. Know if you win THAT night: watch your team climb the standings with every last yard.
DraftKings (started in 2012): You sign up for an account. You choose your sport and enter a contest. You draft a line-up and hopefully win.
DraftKings has a lot of ties and backing, with investors including Fox Sports, Major League Baseball, the NHL, and the owners of the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, Boston financial giant Wellington Management, and the owners of the New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys. So I don’t expect them to just sit back and lose money either.
There people in sports who are against Daily Fantasy Sports or at least they’re against it until they receive some of the money. Washington’s wide receiver Pierre Garcon has filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of NFL players against the daily fantasy sports site FanDuel, alleging it misuses players’ names and likenesses without proper licensing or permission. We’ll see how that turns out.
I, personally, do not play fantasy sports. I have a lot of friends and family members who do. I’m not against them, I am just a passionate fan who has a real hard time rooting against people or teams I don’t like or even worse having the bright side of my team losing being it got me fantasy points from being scored against. I do not even bet on teams I do like, afraid of the jinx (better safe than sorry.) To each his own though. There was a long time that pinball was considered illegal in New York City because of gambling, but since they decide it wasn’t a game of skill, it was finally allowed. Since anyone can play and win, I have a feeling it will not be too long before the daily fantasy sports are back in the game here in NY.
What are your thoughts? Do you or someone you know play fantasy sports? Do you think it should be illegal? Do you think it will be overturned? I look forward to hearing your feedback and ideas.
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