Before the long Thanksgiving break, a hearing took place on Wednesday, November 25th in New York as a preliminary injunction sought to shut down both DraftKings & FanDuel’s daily fantasy sports businesses under Executive Order § 63(12). This was done even before a final ruling could be reached on the merits as to whether the companies’ contests violated Article 225 of New York State Penal Law.

Meanwhile, FanDuel and DraftKings both tried to get court orders that would allow them to continue to operate their businesses in New York during the waiting period without risk of additional punishments.

Contestants on these sites are being accused of violating Article 225 of New York State Penal Law which states its a “Contest of chance” which “means any contest, game, gaming scheme or gaming device in which the outcome depends in a material degree upon an element of chance, notwithstanding that skill of the contestants may also be a factor therein.”

However, I feel that this is a false accusation because fantasy sites such as DraftKings & FanDuel should not be considered games of chance because unlike the games that take place in Casinos these games do take skill. Think about it, the person must know the talent of each player they draft as well as their team’s matchup for the week.

For example, a smart fantasy player would not draft a quarterback that is going up against a top ranked defense because the defense would limit the success of the quarterback, resulting in a lower score and reducing their chance of winning.

Article 225 of New York State Penal Law also states that “A person engages in gambling when he stakes or risks something of value upon the outcome of a contest of chance or a future contingent event not under his control or influence, upon an agreement or understanding that he will receive something of value in the event of a certain outcome.”

Even though it is true that the person is betting money on the outcome of a contest, it is not true that they have no “control” over the outcome. The person gets to draft all their players and has the ability to view all their matchups which clearly gives them some control over the outcome of the event.

All in all, I feel that for every argument that is made to claim that these sites are illegal, there are equal counter arguments that disprove these claims and for that reason I feel that they should remain legal.