FanDuel on Friday said that it is "no longer accepting new deposits from players in New York," but its "full menu of contests across all sports 'will run as scheduled,'" according to Sarah Needleman of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The company also said players in the state "can withdraw funds as usual" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 11/14). DraftKings co-Founder & CEO Jason Robins on Friday said the company hiring some high-profile law firms to fight the cease-and-desist order from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman "sends the signal that we want to win and we think we can win." Robins: "As a company, we have never violated the law" ("OTL," ESPN, 11/13). In N.Y., Glanz & Williams in a front-page piece noted DraftKings has left open a "simple digital loophole that may let New Yorkers play." The N.Y. Times, working with users in all six states where daily fantasy sports is already considered illegal, was "able to make bets on the DraftKings site" utilizing a proxy server, which are "available for a few dollars a month from numerous companies." The service "allows users in, say, Iowa -- one of the states where daily fantasy is illegal -- to appear to be logging on to a website from somewhere else." FanDuel, however, "would not allow access via a proxy from any of the states where daily fantasy is considered illegal." DraftKings in a statement said that the Times had "fraudulently gained access to its site." The statement added, "If users do so, they would be violating our terms of use, and therefore would not be eligible to play on our site" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/14).
WHAT'S THE VIG? In N.Y., Kosman & Atkinson reported DraftKings keeps 12% of its contestant entry-fee pool, a cut that is "enough to be the envy of Las Vegas." The "commonly held assumption" is that DraftKings and FanDuel keep around 10%, which is "standard for brick-and-mortar casinos." A source close to DraftKings said that the 12% figure was "closer" to 9-10% and "even lower for the biggest games" (N.Y. POST, 11/14).
STATE OF THE STATES: Georgia AG Sam Olens said that his office is "investigating whether daily fantasy sports violate state law." Olens in an email wrote, "The issue is pending in our office" (AUGUSTA CHRONICLE, 11/16). Meanwhile, in Seattle, Geoff Baker notes two special agents from the Washington State Gambling Commission on Thursday "gave a public presentation on the nation’s fantasy-sports industry." Fans in Washington state are banned from accessing DFS sites, and WSGC Special Agent Tyson Wilson said that "any attempts here to legalize fantasy sports could waste time and money if the federal government ultimately pulls its legal exemption and outlaws DFS or all fantasy play nationwide." Baker notes those seeking legalization in Washington are "homing in on season-long fantasy sports, which, for now, seem less likely to face a federal ban" (SEATTLE TIMES, 11/16). LegalSportsReport.com Editor-in-Chief & Publisher Chris Grove said there is a "race between a light touch regulation that allows the product to continue to exist at the state level and more onerous, restrictive approaches like we’re seeing in New York and frankly, it seems as if the latter is winning that race” (“OTL,” ESPN, 11/13).
YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE: Last night’s edition of HBO’s “Last Week Tonight With John Oliver” saw the host addressing DFS, calling it the “most addictive thing you can do on your phone other than perhaps cocaine.” Oliver said, “It’s been impossible to avoid those ads. ... DraftKings and FanDuel were airing a national TV ad every 90 seconds. You only need to remind people of something that often if your target market is sports-loving goldfish.” He noted some leagues and teams “have closely partnered with these sites” because the parties “like the idea of daily fantasy." Oliver: "It’s frankly the only thing that’s going to make people want to watch the Bucs and the Jaguars face off on a rainy Thursday night.” Oliver added, "If we go into de facto legalized sports gambling across the U.S., we should at least do it on purpose and not because two companies have somehow weaseled out a way to pretend that they are not something that they clearly are" (“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver,” HBO, 11/15).
