(Long Island, NY) Assemblyman Dean Murray (R,C,I-East Patchogue) issued the following statement on Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s decision to ban fantasy football sites Draft Kings and FanDuel from taking bets in New York:
“The Attorney General’s decision to ban DraftKings and FanDuel is completely wrong. Like many New Yorkers, I participate in DraftKings games and I enjoy playing. I see it as entertainment and look forward each week to pitting my football knowledge against other fans. I can also assure you that playing these games takes a heck of a lot more skill than playing an instant scratch-off lottery game. They’re entertainment sites, a fun way for sports fans to enjoy the games, the players and take home bragging rights for superior sports knowledge.
“I have great respect for the Attorney General, but he is completely off the mark on this one. Mr. Schneiderman says that the DraftKings and FanDuel contests are about ‘instant gratification’ and involve no long-term strategy. Going by that arbiter, it’s no different than every scratch-off lottery ticket sold in our state, visiting an OTB parlor or going to the track and betting on horses. The fact is that these games take a great deal of skill and planning. It’s not like filling out bubbles to choose random numbers or having a computer regurgitate ‘Take 5’ numbers.
“His claim that these sites operate in a fashion different than traditional fantasy sports is also off the mark. Both the sites and traditional fantasy football are conducted over the course of a full season. All these formats allow for fluid rosters, capable of being changed at any time.
“He also asserts that the advertisements by the two companies promote the sites as ‘the simplest way of winning life-changing piles of cash.’ That describes every TV and radio ad for the state lottery. He claims they mislead players about their chances of winning, but doesn’t take the same umbrage with promoting the lotto.
“The state allows for multiple lottery drawings, dozens of instant lottery games, horse racing and OTB parlors, full casinos in multiple locations, racinos, VLT facilities and bingo parlors statewide. Why are suddenly drawing the line with fantasy sports games?
“If this was anything like the NFL, the AG’s error would be overturned by instant replay.”
