[Editor’s note: FanDuel is an advertiser of PFT and PFT Live on NBC Sports Radio. Also, NBC Sports has an equity stake in FanDuel.]
The New York Attorney General won round one of the fight against daily fantasy giants DraftKings and FanDuel. Now, he’s going for the knockout.
Eric T. Schneiderman filed on Thursday an amended set of claims and demands against the companies, seeking a return of all money lost by customers who played in New York during 2015, along with a $5,000 fine per case.
The total payout would be in hundreds of millions, and the fines would amount to $3 billion, based on an estimated New York customer base of 600,000.
The move came four days before a key hearing on whether DraftKings and FanDuel will be permitted to do business in New York as the litigation filed by Schneiderman proceeds.
Said DraftKings lawyer David Boies in response to the move, “The Attorney General’s revised complaint reveals that the Attorney General’s office still does not understand fantasy sports.”
Schneiderman may not understand fantasy sports, but he understands leverage. The timing of the revised lawsuits suggests a desire to place maximum legal pressure on the two companies, either in the hopes of sparking meaningful settlement dialogue or nudging any existing discussions toward a more favorable outcome for New York.
Ultimately, the future of daily fantasy in New York could be determined not in the courts but in the legislature, where changes and clarifications can be made in order to allow DFS games, to conclusively ban them, or to permit them with regulation.