Embattled daily fantasy sports site DraftKings is suing New York now
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DraftKings isn't going down without a fight. The daily fantasy sports site made good on its vow to stop itself from being shuttered in New York state Friday, filing a lawsuit against New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman asking the Supreme Court to intervene.
Schneiderman said Tuesday that companies like DraftKings, which allows fans to compete for daily cash prizes with imaginary sports teams comprised of real players, violated state gambling laws because bettors are "clearly placing bets on events outside of their control or influence." He ordered sports gambling sites to stop taking bets.
But DraftKings contends that, actually, these sports betting games are "'complex games of skill' that differ from poker and other kinds of casino-style betting," The Boston Globe reports. "Today, we have taken decisive legal action to prevent a unilateral, misinformed and legally misguided attempt by the New York attorney general to act as 'judge, jury, and executioner' for daily fantasy sports in New York," DraftKings said in a statement.
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Despite Schneiderman's orders, DraftKings and another embattled sports site, FanDuel, have continued to offer games. According to The Boston Globe, New York has one of the "largest pools of active, paying players in North America." DraftKings alone says some 500,000 New Yorkers use its site.
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