Two popular fantasy sports sites, FanDuel and DraftKings, have been ordered to stop accepting bets in the state of New York as of Tuesday.
New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman ordered the two sites to stop accepting bets in New York because they violate New York state laws about gambling, according to The New York Times. A DraftKings employee told Time that there are over 500,000 customers in the state of New York.
The New York attorney general’s office allegedly began investigating the sites after a DraftKings employee won $350,000 on the rival site FanDuel. (RELATED: Did DraftKings Employee Use Insider Information To Win An Insane Amount of Money?)
ESPN reporter Darren Rovell expanded on the situation in a series of tweets.
BREAKING: NY Attorney General says daily fantasy is gambling & illegal, says DraftKings & FanDuel must cease operating & taking action in NY
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 10, 2015
FanDuel recently moved into 40,000 square feet of office space in NYC, DraftKings has a 21,000 square foot office in Manhattan. — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 10, 2015
DraftKings & FanDuel have together raised nearly $800 million from investors. Neither, at this point, is profitable.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 10, 2015
Clarification: Attorney General not asking DraftKings & FanDuel to stop operating within state, just can’t accept biz from NY citizens — Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 11, 2015
Today’s action by NY Attorney General vs DraftKings & FanDuel is a civil action, but if they fight, which we expect, can turn to criminal
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 11, 2015