New York Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Taking Bets

The New York Times:

The New York State attorney general on Tuesday ordered the two biggest daily fantasy sports companies, DraftKings and FanDuel, to stop accepting bets in New York, saying that their games constituted illegal gambling under state law, according to people with knowledge of his investigation.

The cease-and-desist order by the attorney general, Eric T. Schneiderman, is a major blow to a multibillion-dollar industry that introduced sports betting to legions of young sports fans and has formed partnerships with many of the nation’s professional sports teams. Given the New York attorney general’s historic role as a consumer-protection advocate, legal experts say the action will most likely reverberate in other states where legislators and investigators are increasingly questioning whether the industry should operate unfettered by regulations that govern legalized gambling.

You can argue about whether sports gambling should be legal, but it’s silly to argue that these fantasy sports outfits aren’t “sports gambling”.

★ Tuesday, 10 November 2015