Illinois AG Lisa Madigan seeks to dismiss lawsuits from DraftKings, FanDuel

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed motions Friday to dismiss lawsuits brought by DraftKings and FanDuel after she declared the daily fantasy sites were illegal under state law last month.

In the separate filings made in Illinois circuit court, Madigan argued that she had sovereign immunity since she was fulfilling her duties as attorney general when the state legislature asked her to make a legal opinion on daily fantasy sports. She also argued that the daily fantasy sites couldn’t show any hardship in the case.

Madigan wrote in the memorandum of support of her filings that the daily fantasy sites “do not and cannot allege that the attorney general either pursued or threatened them with any civil enforcement action. The opinion merely concluded that daily fantasy sports contests offered by FanDuel and DraftKings violate the criminal code.”

"The attorney general's filing today will have no impact on DraftKings continuing to operate in Illinois," Randy Mastro, a lawyer for DraftKings and a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, said in a statement. "We have said all along that daily fantasy sports are games of skill permitted under Illinois law. And today's filing does not address that at all. Indeed, hundreds of thousands of Illinois fans enjoy DFS contests, and by operating transparently, acting constructively, and working with state legislators, we intend to see to it that they continue to enjoy them.”‎

Daily fantasy sports industry takes fight to states

Florida-based lawyer Daniel Wallach was the first to report news.

DraftKings and FanDuel filed separate lawsuits on Christmas Eve against Madigan, a day after she opined “all games of chance or skill, when played for money, are illegal gambling in Illinois, unless excepted.”

The attorneys general in New York and Texas offered similar assessment in their states.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman went a step further by suing FanDuel and DraftKings and secured an injunction to keep the two sites from operating in the state, although the injunction is stayed pending appeals.