New York declares Daily Fantasy gaming illegal

So from the quality of today's threads, playing Rutgers is like having a bye week.

 

Oh, and you must not have heard about the guy that used insider info from an employee of the company to win $250k, then it was deemed legal by their internal investigators. I'll bet the guy that lost the $250k in that one on one bet disagrees with your assertion that nobody is getting hurt.

It's very difficult to strike a balance between protecting the public from unscrupulous scams, and overprotecting the public from their own stupidity and avarice.

It'll be interesting to see how this works out, considering the investment of some wealthy folks and leagues. Big time financial backing always seems to affect the perceived legitimacy of things like this.

 

Knew but I knew this was coming. Enjoy it while you can everyone else.

Greedy politicians and billionnaires fighting each other. Hope they both lose.

Things are only illegal if: a) the government can't profit from it or b) making said thing illegal gets them more votes.

How on earth has this thread not already been locked?

The federal government has already made practically every other form of online gambling illegal. There's no logical reason that this is legal and poker is banned. There should be some consistency rather than letting campaign contributions set policy. If this gets outlawed in enough places, maybe that provides the impetus to have that debate.

Use Promo Code: SuckMyBallsDFS

No surprise. Anything Corrupt Cuomo can't get his hands on is illegal. Worst state ever. So happy I'm moving!!!

One one hand they do not have to listen to the commercials anymore.  On the other hand NY politicians are way out of control.

Something about fantasy football makes it enticing to gamble. I'm in one "buy in" league for $20 a season, and I contemplated the idea of approaching my fantasy buddies about doing a daily league. Outside of fantasy football, I don't gamble and am not even tempted to gamble. In fact, it gives me a bad taste in my mouth. Why is this do you think? It's purely psychological, but there's something about fantasy sports that makes gambling more entertaining and SEEM less controversial to a lot of people. I could definitely see how daily fantasy could result in a lot more gambling issues for people who wouldn't normally have gambling issues.

It's really quite simple. Most people are unaware of the level of heuristic software that professionals can use to determine their lines or the scripts that allow them to adjust hundreds of lines right up to the closing point. Even if they did the vast majority would not care. However when the story broke about the cross betting by employees at either site analyzing line make up and using that information to optimize lines on the competing site, even the most clueless realized that the playing field was utterly unfair and that employees were identifying bets they could rig.

We can argue about how much various individuals lose and that it's voluntary. That argument fades to nothing when the overwhelming majority of players realize the playing field isn't fair or honest. When that happens the politicians see an opportunity to ride to the "rescue" to "protect" the public and get re-elected. 

Fan duel and Draft Kings were to busy cashing in to police their businesses. I understand that no laws were broken, and if I have access to confidential information where I work that gives me insight thats valuable at a competing site my employer is not responsible. Each company met the minimum requirements to keep their hands legally clean, and each failed to protect their industry. Short sighted and I have no sympathy for their plight. I can't believe for ne minute that the question of allowing employees to bet on the competing site did not come up in senior management discussions. They couldn't be bothered, and now they get to experience the consequences of that decision. 

It's maybe a bit of an overreach, but this has always been gambling.  I honestly don't care if it stuck around because I don't play DFF, but what I don't understand is the argument that isn't a form of gambling.  It is, so treat it as such and maybe this pushes legislatures for changes to gambling rules.  But this line of argument is what equally drove me crazy about Uber claiming it wasn't in effect a taxi service or AirBnB wasn't effectively a hotelier/rooming company.  There's nothing wrong with that, but if there are rules that exist and you are actively trying to skirt them by playing fast and loose with the language, then don't be surprised when the slow, creaky wheels of oversight turn on you.

Also, I despise the ads and the false notion that "anyone" can win big money when every major study shows it is basically a couple of sharks and a whole bunch of minnows who don't know any better.  At least with general fantasy leagues, everyone has to deal with the same vagaries of a season (guys get hurt, guys underperform, unknowns rise to prominence), while with DFF it really is a couple of guys with big bankrolls beating everyone else with algorithms.  Which I guess can be fun, but seems like a bit of a scam.

If this meand fewer commericals, then I'm all for it.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the problem that it's INTERNET gambling and not just regular old brick and mortar gambling, which would seem to imply that there is a lot less control and oversight over the business of their operations?

That said, it isn't. It's absurd for Daily Fantasy to be legal while every other form of onine gambling isn't.

Make online gambling legal. Don't give out nonsensical free passes, especially to cowboy companies that can't keep their employees from insider trading.

all of my retirement money in rehab centers......what with microbrews, wine, gambling, legalized pot - Rehab centers will be turning people away - more money for me

Where's the line between games of skill and games of chance?

• A game of chess.
• A 15-game chess match, with a coin flip to decide who gets white in the deciding game.
• A game of backgammon.
• A backgammon match to 21. Or 51.
• Bridge.
• Bridge, but with everyone playing the same pre-selected hands.

There's some element of chance in all but the first and last (and yes, I know I'm stretching the point on #2). There's also some element of chance in poker, wargaming (usually), computer games (usually)...and there's no doubt in my mind that every single one of these is essentially a game of skill, as opposed to say craps or keno or roulette. In every one there are people I'm better than and consistently beat the crap out of, and there are other opponents where I'm regularly on the wrong side of the beating.

Is it illegal to play them for money? I've been playing tournament chess and backgammon my whole life, and it never occurred to me that there was an essential difference between the two. It's true that it takes more games of backgammon to separate the skill levels, but it takes less time to play a 21-point match than it typically does to play a game of chess at tournament speeds.

It certainly never occurred to me that paying an entry fee into a backgammon tournament might violate gambling laws.

Straight bullshit! The Gov has nothing better to do then to fuck w people who wanna bet there own money. Let's make fantasy illegal but make WEED legal and ok? This country is fucking going down hill, no wonder more and more people are leaving when they can retire

I just don't see how online betting is not being gamed by insiders (we've seen this in the news recently) or people who use data analytics.

I'm also wondering how long it'll be before we start seeing the articles about referees who influenced games (B1G crews I"m looking at you!) to help their personal winnings.  Lots and lots of past history on this.  With the internet making it so easy how can it not be happening again?

They should have just banned DFS commercials on TV. I think you'd have nearly universal agreement on that point.

So where do you draw the line on all of this? What makes this different from any other form of legal online gambling?

People making money off them never watched a game of football in their lives. They just run a computer program, place their bets and profit

for one thing, i seriously question how many jobs this "industry" has created.  in marketing and advertising, maybe.

as far as "justification" goes?  it's gambling.  full stop.

we can argue about whether gambling should be legal (i for one literally could not care less either way), but right now, at this moment, gambling is illegal in new york, and internet gambling is illegal by federal statute.  the loophole that the sports leagues carved out of that law is pretty wide, but i don't know that it's this wide.

Gambling is illegal under state law.  If people think this isn't gambling, I don't know what to tell you, 'cause it is. 

State law can be changed.  That's the way it works.