How a U.S. prosecutor's probe could spell doom for daily fantasy sports

SI ^ | October 21, 2015 | Michael McCann

[C19fan]

In what may be the most troubling legal development yet for the Daily Fantasy Sports industry, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that the office of Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, has launched a probe into whether certain aspects of DFS violate federal law. Bharara is a truly feared figure in the gaming industry. On Friday, Apr. 15, 2011, in what became known as “Black Friday” to gamblers, Bharara unsealed indictments against three major operators of online poker websites for assorted criminal violations. The indictments included charges for conspiracy to violate the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 (UIGEA), operation of an illegal gambling business and money laundering. Black Friday would eventually lead to government shutdowns of several poker websites and several poker companies were forced to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in government settlements that were overseen by Bharara. Online poker players were also impacted: they saw their accounts suddenly frozen by court injunctions.

[C19fan]

Looks like sports broadcasters will need to show more boner pills when DFS craches and burns.

[Vigilanteman]

Bottom line is that the government believes they have a monopoly on getting revenue from gambling. They don't like competition at all.

Truth be told, they don't even like Catholic sisters selling raffle books or conducting bingo games. But they tend to turn a blind eye because handcuffing nuns conducting fundraisers for charities wouldn't be tolerated by most of the public.

[circlecity]

"Bottom line is that the government believes they have a monopoly on getting revenue from gambling. They don't like competition at all."

I agree totally but it's still obvious that these big fantasy sports organizations (Fan Duel, etc.) paying out big prizes are gambling. There's no basis for different rules between them and any other sports gambling.

[Bidimus1]

Hello Cayman islands server farm.

[mak5]

Nevada has banned Fanduel and Draftkings as illegal gambling. Now, there is a suit pending in federal court in Cleveland arguing that these sites are illegal games of chance and asking for a refund of all money paid to them by Ohio residents. http://www.cleveland.com/court-justice/index.ssf/2015/10/lawsuit_claims_fantasy_sports.html

[cicero2k]

The “game of skill” argument is failing.

Open a brokerage account, buy call (or put) options on something. Example, short the Canadian dollar because the new prime minister will drive their economy into the ground. (note: I do not hold this or any currency position)

On the other hand, who said government should determine the skill vs. chance level of a system.

[SZonian]

Fantasy sports = dungeons and dragons for sports nerds...