New York AG Eric Schneiderman Ups Daily Fantasy Sports Ante

New York AG Eric Schneiderman Ups Daily Fantasy Sports Ante

New York AG Eric Schneiderman Ups Daily Fantasy Sports Ante 2015 imagesNew York attorney general Eric Schneiderman ups Ante in Head to Head Battle with Daily Fantasy Sports

If you thought those weekly tournaments on DraftKings and FanDuel that paid out a million dollars as the top prize were exciting, you ain’t seen nothing yet.

New York’s attorney general Eric Schneiderman is trying to make his mark on the world of daily fantasy sports by taking down the biggest prize ever on FanDuel and DraftKings. This political shark is looking to have his name up on the Mount Rushmore of fantasy gurus who have made a fortune playing fantasy sports.

Guys like Condia and Jonathan Bales may earn a comfortable living drafting winning lineups on NFL and MLB games, but Schneiderman plans on eclipsing anything these pros have ever done on gameday. This attorney general plans to rip every single dollar possible from FanDuel and DraftKings with his newly amended lawsuit against the two DFS behemoths.

Darren Rovell reported this new amendment where Schneiderman seeks to have all the money lost by New Yorkers refunded to those players. That’s one hell of a move since entry fees from these poor New Yorkers totaled over $200 million in 2015 alone.

This Schneiderman character knows his way around daily fantasy sports. He didn’t make the mistake of many rookies by focusing on the best highlights of the week or narratives that don’t affect in-game stats. The attorney general didn’t even bother to check out any injury reports.

Nope, Mr. Schneiderman took an entirely new tactic when going after a big prize pool connected to DK and FD. Amending the state’s lawsuit is the surest way to riches. Why bother doing a week’s worth of research on the outliers and chalk for the final week of NFL action when you can just tack on a $5,000 fine for each case of “illegal gambling” in NY.

$5K multiplied by the 600,000 users in New York would equal three billion dollars in fines! That’s assuming the state views each user as a “case.”

DraftKings’ lawyer David Boies responded with the company’s usual thoughts on the state not understanding DFS.

“Like the NYAG original complaint, it is based on the fundamental misunderstanding of fantasy sports competitions,” Boies said. “Originally, the NYAG claimed that daily fantasy sports were illegal gambling because they were games of chance. That was disproven. Now, the NYAG feels that DFS contests are so much contests of skill that some advertising is misleading because, the NYAG says, certain ads imply that DFS contests are games of chance. This claim, too, is baseless.”

I’m sure those are some great legal points, but I have the feeling Eric Schneiderman understands all he needs to know. Mainly that DraftKings and FanDuel are sitting on stacks of cash that need moving from their coffers to the great state of New York’s.

Three billion in winnings would make Eric Schneiderman by far the biggest winner in daily fantasy sports history. The fact that he has never drafted a lineup before would make this victory even more incredible.

He saw opportunity where others were not looking. That’s how you win big money in daily fantasy sports.

While millions of users were mesmerized by the thought of winning a few thousand dollars on a lucky hit or just twenty bucks versus other users head to head, Schneiderman saw the bigger picture.

If the state of New York ends up winning the lawsuit against FanDuel and DraftKings not only will their quarterback Schneiderman, be the biggest winner in DFS history, but also the last. Winning a three billion dollar pot in a h2h with DraftKings and FanDuel would surely cripple both fantasy sports companies.

That’s pretty gloomy news for players who enjoy playing on these websites. On the bright side, there would likely be a parade in New York after the big win for the attorney general. I can envision city officials tossing dollar bills into the crowd as the politicians ride AIG or NY State Lotto sponsored floats as a way to deliver some of the refunded losses by DFS players from their great state.

Nothing like handing out a few shekels to the peasants as the politicians gloat over the corpses of DraftKings and FanDuel.

One tactic many fantasy players like to use is to check out the lineups of the fantasy pros like Condia and Jonathan Bales to reverse engineer their thought process. That can help a lesser player improve his game over time. I can envision other states using this tactic as they watch how New York handles daily fantasy sports.

I can see states on the brink of bankruptcy crawling over themselves to get some of this DFS action. Illinois would love to get a hold of a few hundred million of FanDuel investors’ money so that state could bolster their shameful state lotto which until recently had been unable to pay winners of more than $600.

One problem with the copycat fantasy strategy by states looking to clean up like New York….there won’t be any big DFS pots left to win. Should New York be successful in their amended lawsuit, the other 49 states will have to find other blossoming industries to raid in order to keep their governments afloat.