In the ongoing saga over the legality of daily fantasy sports, one of the most difficult tasks for DFS enthusiasts is to simply keep track of where the next major ruling will come from. With so many regulators, legislators and attorneys in various states considering the issue, it’s tough to stay on top of the numerous subplots.
To help with this issue, since many daily fantasy players are in a perpetual state of uncertainty, I reached out to attorney and gaming law expert Daniel Wallach. He pointed in a familiar direction: New York. The state, which has been a battleground for daily fantasy over the last month, recently saw DFS banned temporarily by way of a temporary injunction against DraftKings, FanDuel and the daily fantasy industry. However, later in the day, a “stay” was granted until the issue could be resolved.
Here’s what Wallach had to say about it:
In the immediate future, the first important benchmark will be January 4th when the interim stay in the New York court expires. And then full appeals court will decide whether to extend that stay for the duration of the appeal. If the appeals court decides not to extend the stay, then that will force DraftKings and FanDuel out of the New York market for quite a while, either because this case could last for a substantial length of time. So the most important benchmark for the industry is what happens in the first week of January. If the DFS companies can win that battle, then they can continue to operate for the duration of the case and quite possibly the law could be clarified in New York, so that this could be a momentum changer for DraftKings and FanDuel. So much of this rides on what the appeals court does on the stay motion.
This means that daily fantasy companies will make it through the end of the NFL’s regular season in New York (which is a major source of business). And the state is one of the most important for any fantasy company. But with the coming of the new year, the court battles resume.
Images via Albany NY, CC By SA 3.0, Tracy Collins CC By SA 2.0
