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Fantasy Sports Sites Ordered To Stop Taking Bets In New York State (nytimes.com)

HughPickens.com writes: The NY Times reports that in a major blow to a multibillion-dollar industry that introduced sports betting to legions of young sports fans, the New York State attorney general has ordered the two biggest daily fantasy sports companies, DraftKings and FanDuel, to stop accepting bets from New York residents. He said their games constituted illegal gambling under state law. "It is clear that DraftKings and FanDuel are the leaders of a massive, multibillion-dollar scheme intended to evade the law and fleece sports fans across the country," says NY attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, "Today we have sent a clear message: not in New York, and not on my watch."

Fantasy sports companies contend that their games are not gambling because they involve more skill than luck, and because they were legally sanctioned by a 2006 federal law that exempted fantasy sports from a prohibition against processing online financial wagering. "Fantasy sports is a game of skill and legal under New York state law," says FanDuel. "This is a politician telling hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers they are not allowed to play a game they love and share with friends, family, co-workers and players across the country." The attorney general's office also said that ads on the two sites "seriously mislead New York citizens about their prospects of winning." State investigators found that to date, "the top 1 percent of DraftKings winners receive the vast majority of the winnings." Schneiderman's investigation was spurred after reports arose that a DraftKings employee used internal data to win $350,000 on rival site FanDuel, which the operators denied. While both companies had allowed employees to place bets on the others site, they have since banned such practices.

6 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Typical... by slasher999 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Typical Nazi York government overreach tactics. So glad I don't pay taxes there anymore!

    1. Re:Typical... by rockout · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Arizona, Montana and Nevada banned FanDuel and DraftKings long before NY did. How you got modded insightful is beyond me.

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      I've learned that they're worthless, so I don't read AC comments anymore.
  2. NY voters are about to send a clear message by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Insightful

    "Today we have sent a clear message: not in New York, and not on my watch."

    Mess with football betting, and the Democrats will finally be put out to pasture.

  3. I don't get it by fustakrakich · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How is it that Wall Street gets to operate? If we can't call it gambling, it's because it's rigged.

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    “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
    1. Re:I don't get it by Cytotoxic · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The AG is pretty incoherent here. He's saying that it is illegal gambling, but he's also claiming that it is a problem because the top 1% of players win the lion's share of the money. Well, that'd be the case if there was a great deal of skill involved, rather than relying mostly on luck. Which was the entire point of the "it isn't gambling" position.

      Schneiderman probably should have edited his remarks better so he wasn't making the argument for the other side. I suppose prosecutorial immunity extends to mouthing off to the press so he isn't liable for slander and libel.

  4. Re:Fantasy sports is like horse race betting by gl4ss · · Score: 3, Insightful

    horse racing is regulated and defined as gambling in pretty much any country that regulates gambling though.

    or put in other way, if betting on sports straight up is gambling then fantasy sports betting is gambling too. exactly same amount of 'skill'.

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    world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.