Sunday’s Hall of Fame Game between the Green Bay Packers and Indianapolis Colts may have been canceled, but the daily fantasy sports (DFS) football season for New Yorkers has not. New York DFS fans can breathe a sigh of relief, as Governor Andrew Cuomo signed a bill on Wednesday that legalizes the games in the state, opening the door for DraftKings and FanDuel to start accepting Empire State customers once again.
The bill (S.8153/A.10736) passed on the last day of the legislative session back in mid-June. The votes weren’t quite unanimous, but they were overwhelmingly in favor of DFS: 91-22 in the Assembly and 45-17 in the Senate. Governor Cuomo asked for the bill to be sent to his desk last Tuesday, at which point he had ten days to make a decision on it. He obviously knew what he was going to do, signing it the following day.
At this point, DFS operators must now be granted licenses to accept customers in New York. Operators such as DraftKings and FanDuel who had previously done business in the state can apply for temporary licenses to get going as soon as possible.
Both DraftKings and FanDuel, the two runaway leaders of the DFS industry, withdrew from the New York market in March 2016 following a settlement in a legal case brought against them by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The sites were being sued for a number of alleged legal violations, including illegal gambling charges and fraudulent marketing. Most charges, except for the fraudulent marketing and advertising ones, were dropped as a result of the settlement.
In a statement after the DFS bill was signed, Schneiderman said:
As I’ve said from the start of my office’s investigation into daily fantasy sports, my job is to enforce the law and protect New Yorkers from illegal or unscrupulous conduct. Today, the Governor has signed a bill that amends the law in order to legalize daily fantasy sports contests, with consumer protections for New York players. I will enforce and defend the new law. Our false advertising and consumer fraud claims for past misconduct by Draft Kings and Fan Duel will continue to move forward.
While they still need to fight those remaining legal claims, DraftKings and FanDuel are no doubt thrilled about this development. FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles, posted a statement on the FanDuel website, which reads, in part:
On behalf of more than three million fantasy players across the state and our entire company, we want to sincerely thank Governor Cuomo and members of the state legislature — led by bill sponsors Senator John Bonacic, Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan and Speaker Carl Heastie — for bringing fantasy sports back to New York.
This success in New York speaks to the strength and passion of our players who stood up and made their voices heard — and their elected leaders responded.
New York marks a capstone achievement in a remarkable year for fantasy sports.
Last fall, amidst national controversy, some pundits put fantasy sports on death watch. But when the calendar turned to 2016 and fantasy sports fans had the opportunity to be heard and legislators had the opportunity to act, the dynamic quickly shifted, and one by one states began to recognize this is a game loved by millions – millions who should be able to play and deserve the basic protections afforded to consumers in all major industries.
DraftKings CEO Jason Robbins also put out a hearty thanks:
We would like to thank our hundreds of thousands of New York supporters for their passion and loyalty over the past several months. Your hard work and efforts have made an incredible difference.
We extend our sincere thanks to the members of the legislature who worked to make this happen, especially Senator John Bonacic and Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, who provided tireless leadership on this legislation. We also greatly appreciate the thoughtful leadership of Senate Majority Leader John Flanagan, Speaker Carl Heastie, and Governor Andrew Cuomo. It is because of their hard work and collaboration that fantasy sports are returning to New York this football season.
