Yahoo Fantasy Sports Betting Under Scrutiny by Schneiderman

Yahoo fantasy sports betting is the latest victim of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s daily fantasy sports (DFS) witch hunt.

Yahoo has joined DFS operators DraftKings and FanDuel in being under investigation by the state of New York. The tech company—which is best known for its media sites and email services—has been participating in the DFS betting sector with its fantasy sports betting site, which is found in the Yahoo Sports portal. Yahoo fantasy sports betting is now another one of the online sportsbooks in US that gambling vigilante Schneiderman considers to be unregulated and illegal.

Yahoo turned its unpopular fantasy sports service into a DFS betting site last July. The change is believed to have been caused by the wild popularity of DFS giants DraftKings and FanDuel. Yahoo’s DFS section features daily tournaments and cash prizes.

The legality question of Yahoo sports betting

The main question coming out of this news is not the legality of Yahoo fantasy sports betting alone, but the legality of all DFS gambling. Daily fantasy sports differ from standard fantasy sports in that it compresses season-long events into daily contents that are fast-paced and have high payouts. Because of the nature of the activity, the NY government considers it to be no different from online poker or other online casino games, and therefore is illegal under US gambling laws

Yahoo opposes this accusation, saying in a statement to Times that “we are monitoring industry trends and events closely and believe that we offer a lawful product for our Daily Fantasy Sports users.” The statement closely mirrors the position of both DraftKings and FanDuel.

Schneiderman has a court hearing for the DFS case on 25 November 2015. Should he win the case, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Yahoo would be forced to immediately and permanently cease their sports betting operations in the state of New York.