DraftKings or FanDuel Fantasy Sports

On Behalf of O’Malley Tunstall PLLC | Nov 11, 2015 | Civil Trial

Played DraftKings or FanDuel Fantasy Sports and Lost?

The two major fantasy sports internet sites DraftKings and FanDuel have admitted that their employees have been playing and winning money at the rival sites and may have been doing so with data they obtained from their employer. Access to the data which is used by players to draft players and compete has apparently not been as controlled as the sites have lead the public to believe.

In fact within the last month both internet sites have admitted to inadvertently releasing data ahead of week three of the NFL season and a midlevel content manager at DraftKings winning over $350,000.00 at a rival site that same week.  This insider trading of data gives a player a distinct advantage over the other players and could lead to an unfair advantage in the daily fantasy sports arena.  As these sites are considered multi-billion dollar industries any advantage is significant.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman declared that daily fantasy sports were considered illegal gambling in the his state on November 10, 2015; further damaging the reputation of these sites.  In a statment Schneiderman declared: “Our investigation has found that, unlike traditional fantasy sports, daily fantasy sports companies are engaged in illegal gambling under New York law, causing the same kinds of social and economic harms as other forms of illegal gambling and misleading New York consumers,” Schneiderman said. “Daily fantasy sports is neither victimless nor harmless, and it is clear that DraftKings and FanDuel are the leaders of a massive, multi-billion-dollar scheme intended to evade the law and fleece sports fans across the country. Today we have sent a clear message: not in New York and not on my watch.” 

In North Carolina, our Attorney General has not yet made a public statement regarding these internet sites.  If you have Played DraftKings or FanDuel Fantasy Sports and lost and would not have played if you were aware of the unfair access to data by the companies, give us a call, we are currently investigating these and other unfair trade practice cases.