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Daily fantasy eSports operators are taking New York's Attorney General to court to get his verdict that they're running unlicensed gambling operations -- and thus, illegal in the state -- thrown out.

Alex Wawro, Contributor

November 13, 2015

1 Min Read

Daily fantasy sport and eSport operators FanDuel and DraftKings are taking New York's Attorney General to court in an attempt to get his recent verdict that they're running unlicensed gambling operations -- and thus, illegal in the state -- thrown out.

"We are asking the New York Supreme Court to rule that the Attorney General’s cease-and-desist letter is unconstitutional, an abuse of discretion, and simply wrong," reads a statement from DraftKings reprinted by Re/code, who also reprinted a copy of FanDuel's legal filing that makes for interesting reading.

That FanDuel and DraftKings feel pressured to file separate suits against state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in New York Supreme Court suggests the two companies' operations may be under significant threat, just months after they each added eSports like League of Legends and Counter-Strike: GO to their portfolios of daily fantasy games people can wager real money on.

Last month Nevada's Gaming Control Board ruled that betting on daily fantasy sports constitutes gambling, and thus both FanDuel and DraftKings will have to obtain gambling licenses if they wish to continue operating in Nevada.

Other states may well follow suit (California's Attorney General is believed to be investigating a daily fantasy sports ban) and FanDuel is now calling on people to sign its petition to keep fantasy sports betting legal.

For more information on how these services work and why the New York Attorney General's office began investigating them in the first place, check out this GQ explainer on a recent controversy over a DraftKings employee who won a truckload of money by betting on FanDuel games.

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