Daily fantasy sports majors close to settlement with New York AG

Now that New York legalisation is in the bag for daily fantasy sports (see previous  reports), market leaders Fanduel and DraftKings are reportedly close to a settlement on false advertising charges laid by the state Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, last year.

A New York Times report quotes two unnamed insider sources who claim that the DFS companies are likely to stump up around $8 to $12 million in a settlement, along with an acknowledgement of the AG’s opinion and a commitment to stronger consumer protection policies, to make the charges go away .

Approached for comment, FanDuel spokesman Justine Sacco told the NYT: “While we cannot comment on the details, we can confirm that we have been in ongoing settlement negotiations with the New York attorney general’s office. They have been tough but fair, and we hope to reach an acceptable resolution.”

The New York Times sources claim that DraftKings and FanDuel have depleted cash reserves after over a year of intense litigation and lobbying for DFS, and have had to request as part of the settlement that they be allowed to pay in instalments.

The Times notes that over the past three weeks FanDuel has laid off more than 60 people, and both companies have acknowledged that they are months behind in their payments to vendors, “…especially to the array of public relations and lobbying firms that they have employed across the nation to persuade individual state legislatures to legalize daily fantasy games.”

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