Another daily fantasy sports bill launched in New York

A bill introduced recently by New York Assemblyman Felix Ortiz seeking to licence and regulate daily fantasy sport operators in New York state has been followed by another legislative proposal, this one from Assemblyman Dean Murray.

Murray’s Bill AO8587 proposes amendments to the state constitution in order to protect daily fantasy sports in the event that current judiciary deliberations define the genre as gambling. In such an event, the bill would change the New York constitution to create a special exemption for DFS.

It also includes a controversial provision calling for the repeal of the federal Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act by Congress in the event that DFS is classified as gambling.

Motivating the introduction of the bill, Murray said that it was largely a contingency against the possibility that the courts may find that daily fantasy sports constitute gambling in terms of New York law.

It was intended as part of a strategy to exempt companies like FanDuel and DraftKings from prosecution under the provisions of New York gambling law, he said.

A companion bill, AO8588, covers DFS competitions, seeking to exempt these from the “contest of chance” language in state law.

Our readers will recall that New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has almost become the acknowledged point man in US enforcement agency efforts to exercise more control over the daily fantasy sports phenomenon; he has asked the New York courts for guidance on the legality of DFS under New York laws and a decision from the judiciary is currently awaited .

Murray clearly opposes the actions of his state AG.