NY Attorney General Adds Yahoo To FanDuel & DraftKings Investigation, Preliminary Hearing Next Week

Another day, another development in the wild world of daily fantasy sports.

While DraftKings and FanDuel await their day in court next Wednesday, the NY Times has reported that Eric T. Schneiderman, NY’s Attorney General, has decided to include Yahoo in his investigation into the daily fantasy sports.

Wait…Yahoo?

Yep. While Yahoo has avoided the flashy prime-time ads that are now common in the industry, the site actually added daily fantasy sports to its fantasy offerings in July, and since then has become the third largest DFS provider after FanDuel and DraftKings.

In fact, Yahoo has actually offered year-long fantasy leagues with cash prizes since before DraftKings and FanDuel were even founded. Presumably, Yahoo’s DFS offerings would legally be considered identical to their legacy year-long cash leagues, as success in both cases are at least partially contingent upon factors outside of user’s control.

So now that Yahoo’s cover is blown, what comes next for the daily fantasy sports triumvirate?

While a New York Supreme Court Judge yesterday denied the temporary restraining order requested by DraftKings and FanDuel so they could continue to operate in the state, an expedited hearing was scheduled for next Wednesday, November 25th.

Each company seems to be handling the situation differently as they wait for their day in court.

Although Yahoo hasn’t yet officially been named as part of an investigation by NY’s Attorney General, the company is clear on its website that Yahoo Daily Fantasy Sports is legal, at least outside of the 7 states which have already said that DFS violates state law. The site has so far taken no steps to restrict players in New York.

FanDuel, which is based in NYC, today temporarily stopped accepting contest entries from NY residents. However, the company said they believe that the New York Supreme court will give an update on the situation next week, and hopes to soon resume offering paid contests to New Yorkers.

On the other hand, DraftKings, based in Boston, is continuing to operate in NY despite being denied a temporary restraining order which would have allowed them to legally continue operations in the state. The company issued a statement this morning saying that they “look forward to being afforded a full and fair opportunity to demonstrate why daily fantasy sports are legal under New York State law”.

And what is Eric T. Schneiderman, NY’s Attorney General doing about this? This morning his office filed an injunction against DraftKings and FanDuel, essentially asking a judge to force the companies to cease-and-desist while they await trial.

To be sure, there is one thing all parties can agree on, which is that next Wednesday can’t come soon enough.