
Brand New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had been surprised to see in his research into daily fantasy sports that the leading operators were engaged in deceptive advertising, just one of the multiple reasons he’s announced the marketplace illegal.
Daily fantasy sports (DFS) is no further legal in New York following an investigation by their state’s lead legal lawyer, market leaders DraftKings and FanDuel both getting cease-and-desist letters on Tuesday.
‘Our investigation has found that, unlike traditional fantasy activities, daily fantasy recreations companies are engaged in illegal gambling,’ nyc Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a press launch.
‘Daily dream sports is neither victimless nor harmless, and it is clear that DraftKings and FanDuel are the leaders of a massive, multi-billion-dollar scheme designed to evade the legislation and fleece sports fans across the country.’
Schneiderman unveiled his office found DFS operators engaging in ‘deceptive marketing to lure customers into an online that is unregulated gambling,’ but stated that practice wouldn’t carry on his watch.
Sides Square Off
The confrontation between Schneiderman and the two leading daily fantasy operators has quickly taken an ugly and turn that is combative.
The attorney general of course initiated the quarrel, writing in his cease-and-desist letter that ‘customers are clearly placing bets on events outside of their control or influence,’ citing that the very best one percent of DFS users are claiming almost all the winnings.
FanDuel wasted no right time in firing back during the attorney general.
‘This will be a politician telling thousands and thousands of New Yorkers they are not allowed to play a game title they love and share with friends, household, coworkers and players across the nation,’ the company said in a statement. ‘After the attorney general realized he could now get himself some press coverage, he decided a game that’s been around for a long, long time is suddenly now not legal.’
DraftKings echoed those sentiments, albeit in a little more manner that is diplomatic. ‘Our company is really disappointed … Schneiderman took such hasty action today, particularly since he didn’t just take any time to comprehend our business or why daily dream sports are clearly a game of skill.’
GOP All Company
Tuesday’s news away from Albany did not make its method to Wisconsin for the fifth Republican debate, the eight contenders focusing on the economy, immigration, and security that is national opting to steer clear of less serious issues like daily fantasy sports.
While there ended up being no bombshell back-and-forth on DFS between former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, the latter not qualifying for the primary debate, Schneiderman’s ruling will certainly have nationwide effects.
Christie, who said in at Bush, ‘Enough on fantasy football october. Let people play, who cares,’ announced this week their state wouldn’t weigh-in on DFS until New Jersey’s lawsuit regarding its wishes to legalize sports betting reaches a verdict sometime in 2016.
Nyc could be the 2nd state to openly ban DFS in 2015, and many others are currently deliberating the issue.
The Empire State moving to outlaw DraftKings and FanDuel could prompt others to join in on prohibiting the market that is controversial. It might also force major sports leagues with direct ties to the leading DFS platforms to reconsider their positions.
Writing in the comments area on ESPN, Austin Weber maybe said it best: ‘ the commercials should be made by them unlawful too.’
Controversial Connecticut Casino Expansion Kicks into Gear, Receives Five Site Proposals
Fighting for Connecticut casinos: Mohegan Tribal Council Chairman Kevin Brown says that the casino concept will protect thousands of jobs and millions in revenue and he will not give up with no fight. (Image: elkharttruth.com)
A Connecticut that is planned casino on the state’s north border is progressing, despite case by MGM Resorts that’s wanting to snuff it away completely.
Connecticut’s Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegan tribes, that will operate the venture jointly should it go ahead, announced this that they had received five site proposals from communities eager to host the casino week. The opted for community will be announced next month.
Connecticut recently altered its constitution to permit a casino into the north, as a direct challenge to MGM Resorts, which is building an $800 million resort just across the border in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The state can be involved that the Massachusetts that is emerging casino, founded through legislation passed away in 2011, will harm footfall through its two debt-heavy casinos in the south. Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun are operated by the Mashantucket Pequots and Mohegans, respectively.
MGM Sues
MGM has fired a salvo of shots back across the edge, by filing a lawsuit demanding that a federal court declare the bill ‘invalid, null, and void in its entirety.’
The casino giant argues that because the two tribes will be the only entities permitted to operate casinos into the state, and since their operations were until recently restricted to land that is tribal the new proposal comprises an illegal breach of free enterprise.
In accordance with MGM, Connecticut has afforded the tribes illegal preferential treatment over other potential operators, states the lawsuit.
Connecticut counters that any operator is welcome to apply for a casino that is new, but the state could have to pass a new law to allow it.
The state also points out that, under the regards to Massachusetts, MGM to its license is forbidden to construct a casino within 50 miles of the Springfield project, which means it couldn’t make an application for a license in north Connecticut under Massachusetts gaming legislation even if it wanted to.
Connecticut has filed a motion to dismiss the scenario.
‘Overwhelming Response’
In accordance with a press release from the two tribes, the project has gotten the five proposals from the communities of East Hartford, East Windsor, Hartford and Windsor Locks (which submitted two).
‘The response we’ve gotten since releasing the RFP has been overwhelming,’ said Rodney Butler, president of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council.
‘Our mission has not changed. We want this brand new facility to be based in a community that wishes us there and values the jobs and revenue we’ll bring.’
‘This process began to preserve thousands of jobs and millions in revenue which will leave [Connecticut], the losing which MGM has repeatedly acknowledged is necessary to make their project in Springfield a success,’ added Mohegan Tribal Council Chairman Kevin Brown.
‘ As members of communities with deep ties to the state, we’re simply not going to let that happen without a fight. With this specific period complete, we can now start to engage interested parties and save Connecticut jobs.’
MLB Strikes Deal With Anti-Match-Fixing Integrity Firm in a First for US Sports
Pete Rose, whose recreations betting scandal strengthened the MBL’s anti-gambling stance. (image: Wikipedia.org)
Significant League Baseball is becoming the initial US sports league to hire a sports integrity monitor to protect from match-fixing.
The league announced this week that it had inked a deal that is multi-year London-based company SportIM for an undisclosed level of money.
Sports integrity firms like SportIM work with sports leagues, governing bodies and bookmakers throughout the world to monitor suspicious activities in regulated and unregulated wagering areas, acting as a warning that is early against match manipulation.
The business, which currently provides its services to the English Premier League and other soccer leagues across Europe, monitors millions of live and pre-match odds across numerous sports each day, conducting real time analysis of threats.
‘This new expanded monitoring program will help keep baseball during the forefront of security innovation due to the fact global curiosity about baseball grows and fans in america and beyond move online to follow the action,’ said the integrity monitor in a press release.
Protective Measures
The MLB stated the deal was not prompted by any specific event (1919 World Series anyone?), but instead by ‘an abundance of caution.’
‘Given how important integrity is to sports, the price we’re paying is well worthwhile even whenever we have no reason to think there’s any gambling going on,’ explained Dan Halem, MLB’s main legal officer.
There have been no recent indications of any attempt to fix MLB matches, even though the total outcome of the aforementioned 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox as well as the Cincinnati Reds is believed to own been manipulated by gangster and gambling kingpin Arnold Rothstein, and it may be that baseball has never quite recovered.
The league’s longstanding anti-sports betting stance ended up being reinforced, needless to say, by the Pete Rose scandal within the late eighties, in which Cincinnati Reds coach Rose admitted to wagering on games illegally while he previously been in charge of the group.
Anti-gambling Stance
The league remains compared to New Jersey’s ambition to legalize sports betting within its borders. In a 2012 testimony for the newest Jersey sports case that is betting MLB commissioner Bud Selig said gambling ended up being ‘the deadliest of all items that sometimes happens.’
‘It’s evil,’ he stated. ‘It creates doubt and destroys your sport.’
While baseball has been evidently free of manipulation in present times, soccer has had its share that is fair of scandals, notably within the European lower leagues.
The rise of live, in-play proposition betting, where you are able to bet on almost every element of a match, from the coin toss at the start of a soccer match to the quantity of strikes in a baseball game, has made the exploitation of these seemingly innocuous moments increasingly possible in recent years, and criminal gambling syndicates, often based in cina, are cashing in.
A vast amount of money is wagered on illegal markets throughout the world, and it could be that SportIM’s data crunchers come up with some uncomfortable surprises while in-play betting is only legally available to Americans in certain sports books Nevada.