With all the new lawsuits being brought against Daily Fantasy Sports (DSF) providers FanDuel and DraftKings, it is hard to keep up with who is getting sued and why. It seems that almost every week, we hear about a new lawsuit against one of the DFS companies being brought up in a different state for different reasons. Now that eighty cases have been filed, it has been up to prosecution and defense teams to decide where these cases were to be litigated. To save time, effort, and tax dollars, the panel decided it would be best to centralize all lawsuits into Massachusetts Federal Court. Some other locations that committee considered besides Massachusetts include New York, Illinois, and Florida.
According to an article by Law360, there has been 80 pending cases that have either been included in motions for consolidation or identified as related actions. Of these 80 cases, 42 of them allege insider trading, 36 involve alleged illegal gambling, and 8 of them allege bonus fraud. For those who are a little unfamiliar with the definitions of these legal terms, here's a quick review:
-Illegal Trading is defined as the buying or selling of a security by someone who has access to material, nonpublic information about the security.
-Illegal Gambling is a term to describe any illegal forms of gambling. These "illegal gambling" laws are different in each state with different definitions of what is legal and illegal and how it will be punished.
-Bonus Fraud are being filed over allegedly misleading promotional programs, which these claims are only being brought against DraftKings.
Although the panel has finally decided where it will begin these lawsuits, there is till no indication of when actual litigation, if any, will occur. That being said, these lawsuits are in the very beginning stages of the legal process and shouldn't expect to hear any settlements for months or even years. It will be interesting to see what cases and potential claims will hold in court, if any, and to see how this all plays out. So those of you still thinking they might want to file a lawsuit or join one of the lawsuits against DraftKings or FanDuel, now is the time!
Friday, February 5, 2016
Monday, January 25, 2016
Is this the end of Daily Fantasy Sports?
With the current lawsuit still going on in New York on whether daily fantasy sports (DFS) sites like FanDuel and DraftKings are a form of "illegal gambling" or a game of skill, other states have started to bring this same issue to their courts. These states include Texas, California, Florida, Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana. With over 50 millions players of daily fantasy sports in the United States, the legality of DFS has become a national issue. That's why some DFS players decided it was time to protect their right to play fantasy sports and joined the organization Fantasy Sports For All.
Fantasy Sports For All is an organization that is "committed to protecting the rights of all Americans who play fantasy sports". They are backed by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, which was established in 1999. Fantasy Sports For All and their followers are dedicated to "support any effort to fairly and reasonably regulate fantasy sports, and will oppose all measures that unjustly prevent law-abiding Americans from participating in the games they love". They are a growing organization and to combat the recent allegations about the legality of DFS, they have portals on their website that allows you to contact via email the Attorney General from the states above to show support for daily fantasy sports. Although one email may not change an Attorney General's mind about DFS, the constant flow of emails may be enough to keep daily fantasy sports legal in the United States. So all of you reading this article in a state where DFS may become illegal, I recommend you join Fantasy Sports For All and write to your state's Attorney General today before it's too late!
Fantasy Sports For All is an organization that is "committed to protecting the rights of all Americans who play fantasy sports". They are backed by the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, which was established in 1999. Fantasy Sports For All and their followers are dedicated to "support any effort to fairly and reasonably regulate fantasy sports, and will oppose all measures that unjustly prevent law-abiding Americans from participating in the games they love". They are a growing organization and to combat the recent allegations about the legality of DFS, they have portals on their website that allows you to contact via email the Attorney General from the states above to show support for daily fantasy sports. Although one email may not change an Attorney General's mind about DFS, the constant flow of emails may be enough to keep daily fantasy sports legal in the United States. So all of you reading this article in a state where DFS may become illegal, I recommend you join Fantasy Sports For All and write to your state's Attorney General today before it's too late!
Monday, November 30, 2015
Another Twist in the Fantasy Lawsuit
Just over a month ago, the daily fantasy sports (DFS) lawsuit against FanDuel and DraftKings had begun and tensions between the company and its customers (fantasy sports players) were high after accusations of insider trading had surfaced. As of last week, a new twist that not even James Cameron or Steven Spielberg could have thought of has now been thrown into the mix. Two DFS employees have filed a lawsuit against over 50 companies that had invested into DFS companies or facilitated DFS gaming. The logic behind the lawsuit is that these companies were investing and facilitating "illegal gambling" operations. Per Sports Illustrated, the companies that are being sued include, but are not limited to:
- The National Basketball Association (NBA) , Major League Baseball Ventures (MLB), National Hockey League Ventures(NHL), and Major League Soccer (MLS)
- The Kraft Group (owned by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft), Legends Hospitality (co-owned by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and the New York Yankees), and MSG Sports and Entertainment (owned by New York Knicks owner James Dolan)
- Turner Sports, Time Warner, NBC Sports Comcast Ventures, 21st Century Fox and Fox Sports Interactive Media
- Visa, MasterCard and American Express
- J.P. Morgan, Capital One Bank, Google Capital, Piton Capital and Scottish Investment Bank
- PayPal, Paysafe and Vantiv (payment processors)
- DraftKings, FanDuel and Jason Robins
Friday, November 13, 2015
The Other Lawsuit..
Since most of my blogs have been about fantasy sports lawsuits, specifically football, I believe it is time to shed light on another lawsuit that involves football. The Concussion lawsuit. There has been a couple different lawsuits suing the NFL, the CFL, NCAA and certain helmet brands such as Riddell and Schutt. This lawsuit has been brought to the public after research suggested that football players whom have suffered head injuries or concussions can lead to permanent brain damage and early onset of dementia. Some of these side effects include, but are not limited to change in personality, depression, ringing in ears, chronic headaches, memory loss and suicidal thoughts/tendencies. This has been studied from the professional level all the way down to high school.
If this is your first time hearing this and you are interested in learning more about the NFL and concussions, there will be a movie featuring Will Smith and Alec Baldwin called "Concussion". In the film, Smith plays Dr. Bennett Omalu, a Nigerian-born forensic pathologist in Pittsburgh who knows nothing about football when he performs the autopsy on a former NFL player. He soons learns how brain injury can be caused by playing football and the long-term effects that it has on the players. It also shows the controversy that this started when the findings were revealed to the Roger Goodell and the NFL. The movie is based on true events and uses real names of actual players who were used for research. The film hits theaters December 25, 2015.
If this is your first time hearing this and you are interested in learning more about the NFL and concussions, there will be a movie featuring Will Smith and Alec Baldwin called "Concussion". In the film, Smith plays Dr. Bennett Omalu, a Nigerian-born forensic pathologist in Pittsburgh who knows nothing about football when he performs the autopsy on a former NFL player. He soons learns how brain injury can be caused by playing football and the long-term effects that it has on the players. It also shows the controversy that this started when the findings were revealed to the Roger Goodell and the NFL. The movie is based on true events and uses real names of actual players who were used for research. The film hits theaters December 25, 2015.
Monday, November 9, 2015
NFL Player sues FanDuel
With a major lawsuit alleging daily fantasy sports providers DraftKings and FanDuel of insider trading about to go on trial, you can imagine the lawyers are ready for a tough legal battle ahead. These allegations began when it was found that employees from DraftKings were using nonpublic information about fantasy players and using this to make "money-winning" lineups at their competitor's site FanDuel (due to employees not being allowed to play at their own sites) and vice versa. This not only gave these fantasy players a competitive edge while making their lineups, but it also may have caused other fantasy players to lose money or win less than they should have. This has cause a lot of bad publicity for both fantasy sports providers, but their troubles haven't ended there...
Now an article from The Washington Post states that NFL wide receiver Pierre Garcon of the Washington Redskins is suing fantasy football provider FanDuel on behalf of all NFL players. In his lawsuit, Garcon claims "I am bringing this lawsuit against FanDuel for using my name, image, and likeness in both daily fantasy contests and through advertising on TV ads and infomercials. FanDuel has taken the liberty to engage in these actions without my consent and without proper licensing rights. As a result of these activities, FanDuel daily fantasy contests have shown increasing revenues leading to large profits. Therefore, on behalf of myself as well as any other players who are being treated unjustly, I chose to file a complaint.."
What Garcon is essentially stating in his complaint is that FanDuel is using his image, as well as other NFL players, to promote their website without the consent or any proper licensing or legal papers. This is a problem because FanDuel are making LOTS of money off NFL player's images and performance like Garcons in their commercials and they aren't getting compensated for it. Another complaint that Garcon had with FanDuel was that they were "knowingly and improperly exploit[ing] the popularity and performance" of Garcon and other NFL players without their consent. All this leads to another lawsuit that will have to be settled in court for fantasy provider FanDuel.
Now an article from The Washington Post states that NFL wide receiver Pierre Garcon of the Washington Redskins is suing fantasy football provider FanDuel on behalf of all NFL players. In his lawsuit, Garcon claims "I am bringing this lawsuit against FanDuel for using my name, image, and likeness in both daily fantasy contests and through advertising on TV ads and infomercials. FanDuel has taken the liberty to engage in these actions without my consent and without proper licensing rights. As a result of these activities, FanDuel daily fantasy contests have shown increasing revenues leading to large profits. Therefore, on behalf of myself as well as any other players who are being treated unjustly, I chose to file a complaint.."
What Garcon is essentially stating in his complaint is that FanDuel is using his image, as well as other NFL players, to promote their website without the consent or any proper licensing or legal papers. This is a problem because FanDuel are making LOTS of money off NFL player's images and performance like Garcons in their commercials and they aren't getting compensated for it. Another complaint that Garcon had with FanDuel was that they were "knowingly and improperly exploit[ing] the popularity and performance" of Garcon and other NFL players without their consent. All this leads to another lawsuit that will have to be settled in court for fantasy provider FanDuel.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
A Fantasy Sports Control Agency
As of recent, daily fantasy sports providers such as FanDuel and DraftKings have been under public scrutiny after several lawsuits have been filed against them. These lawsuits claim that employees of FanDuel and DraftKings used nonpublic information in order to create a more profitable fantasy line-up and used the line-up at their competitors website. This is what is known as "Insider Trading" and so far DraftKings employees have won more than 6 million dollars by doing this. It's safe to say there will probably be more lawsuits filed against these multi-billion dollar corporations, but the real question is how will they regain the fantasy player's trust?
Well according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, these fantasy sports providers plan on creating an outside control board known as the Fantasy Sports Control Agency to ensure ethical behavior in the industry. This control board is led by former Obama administration official, lawyer Seth Harris, (Deputy Labor Secretary from 2009-2014). Mr. Harris explains "We’re going to develop a set of industry standards,” by "ask[ing] all of the companies that are engaged in cash games to establish controls, processes, and leadership that will ensure compliance with those standards." Even DraftKings Chief Executive Officer Jason Robins agreed that this new control agency “will help our industry establish best practices” and will give a level playing field for customers.
So what would happen if these companies or their employees were caught cheating again? Mr. Harris said they would have strict controls such as audits and an enforcement mechanism to deal with misconduct. Depending on the severity of misconduct, legal actions may be used as well. The creation of this control agency wouldn’t affect the continuing investigation of the insider trading lawsuits filed against the companies, but it is the right step in moving forward for these companies and maintaining a healthy relationship with their customers.
Well according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, these fantasy sports providers plan on creating an outside control board known as the Fantasy Sports Control Agency to ensure ethical behavior in the industry. This control board is led by former Obama administration official, lawyer Seth Harris, (Deputy Labor Secretary from 2009-2014). Mr. Harris explains "We’re going to develop a set of industry standards,” by "ask[ing] all of the companies that are engaged in cash games to establish controls, processes, and leadership that will ensure compliance with those standards." Even DraftKings Chief Executive Officer Jason Robins agreed that this new control agency “will help our industry establish best practices” and will give a level playing field for customers.
So what would happen if these companies or their employees were caught cheating again? Mr. Harris said they would have strict controls such as audits and an enforcement mechanism to deal with misconduct. Depending on the severity of misconduct, legal actions may be used as well. The creation of this control agency wouldn’t affect the continuing investigation of the insider trading lawsuits filed against the companies, but it is the right step in moving forward for these companies and maintaining a healthy relationship with their customers.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Who plays fantasy football?
Online fantasy sports, specifically football, is one of the largest growing industries in the United States over the past 10 years. Fantasy sports providers such as DraftKings and FanDuel have had cash inflows of BILLIONS of dollars annually. Even with a recent lawsuit involving both company's employees being investigated for insider trading, they are still growing in popularity! So you might be asking yourself, "Who the heck are all these people playing fantasy football?" Posted below is a graphic that will provide you insight on the growing population of fantasy sport players.
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