New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman wants FanDuel and DraftKings to "give back the hundreds of millions they have made in the state and pay a stiff penalty for running what he argues are illegal gambling operations," according to Joe Drape of the N.Y. TIMES. In amending a lawsuit on Thursday that he filed in November against the companies, Schneiderman said that the companies had "engaged in 'repeated and persistent fraudulent acts,' including misrepresenting the likelihood that a casual player would win a jackpot and the degree of skill involved in the games, and broadcasting misleading advertising involving so-called deposit bonuses." The lawsuit "seeks an order requiring that all the money FanDuel and DraftKings made in New York be repaid to customers who lost money, and it asks that the sites pay a fine of up to $5,000 per case." The sites collected $200M from 600,000 New Yorkers in '15. A lawyer for DraftKings "bristled at the new filing." Attorney David Boies in a statement said, "The attorney general’s revised complaint reveals that the attorney general’s office still does not understand fantasy sports" (N.Y. TIMES, 1/2). In Boston, Curt Woodward noted New York is "one of the largest markets for daily fantasy sports players." DraftKings has said that it collected about $100M in entry fees there in '15 alone, and it is "not clear how much FanDuel collected from New Yorkers last year" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/2). Boies: "Everyone who plays fantasy sports knows they are games of skill" (N.Y. POST, 1/2). ESPN.com's Darren Rovell wrote the fight to stay in business in New York "got a bit uglier for daily fantasy companies." Restitution of funds "had never been a part of Schneiderman's previous case and could be a huge blow to both companies" (ESPN.com, 1/2).
