{"id":38193,"date":"2016-08-08T16:57:57","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T23:57:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=38193"},"modified":"2016-10-12T20:40:06","modified_gmt":"2016-10-13T03:40:06","slug":"dfs-industry-spent-800000-lobbying-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dfs-industry-spent-800000-lobbying-new-york\/","title":{"rendered":"DFS Industry Spent $800,000 on Lobbying in New York"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"DFS
Eric Schneiderman, who threatened the DFS industry with potentially billions of dollars in fines. (Image: Andrew Burton\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/i>The daily fantasy sports industry\u2019s victory in the New York legislature last week didn\u2019t come cheap. Just days after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the state\u2019s DFS bill into law, heralding a new era of licensed and regulated fantasy sports contests, the New York Daily News revealed the true cost of DraftKings\u2019 and FanDuel\u2019s lobbying efforts in the state.<\/p>\n

The two companies and affiliated trade associations spent just under $800,000 since last fall, with over half of that within the last two months, as the bill\u2019s momentum gathered pace, according to records filed by the Joint Commission on Public Ethics.<\/p>\n

Records show that the companies spent $249,890 on one ad campaign, and $100,000 on persuading former NFL quarterbacks Jim Kelly and Vinny Testaverde to plead the case for DFS in front of the Albany legislature. They also hired over half a dozen lobbying firms, the commission said.<\/p>\n

Grassroots Support<\/b><\/h2>\n

The revelation will of course lead to accusations of DraftKings<\/a> and FanDuel attempting to \u201cbuy\u201d the legislature and of influencing public policy through its financial clout. But according to Marc La Vorgna of Fantasy Sports for All, a non-profit organization funded by both companies to support the legislative push, DFS had a large bedrock of grassroots support in New York.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe avalanche of emails, calls and social media contacts fans made with legislators was the most impactful component,\u201d La Vorgna told the New York Daily News. \u201cIt forced recognition of how many people cared and that they were mobilized.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As the industry\u2019s biggest market outside of California, New York is certainly not short of some very passionate DFS fans. When New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman<\/a> launched an injunction to prohibit the games last year, declaring them illegal, protestors took to the streets.<\/p>\n

Speaking in an official statement following the passage of the bill, FanDuel CEO Nigel Eccles noted that more than 10,000 letters had been sent and nearly 3,000 calls made to lawmakers backing his company\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

Billions in Fines Swerved<\/b><\/h2>\n

Of course, lobbying costs\u00a0may pale in comparison\u00a0to\u00a0the legal bills incurred as DFS attempted to fight challenges to its operations in New York and elsewhere. But it still could have been worse: at the beginning of the year Schneiderman amended his lawsuit against DraftKings and FanDuel to seek the return of all buy-ins paid by customers in New York throughout 2015, plus a $5,000 fine per head, a sum estimated to be well over $3 billion.<\/p>\n

Both sites agreed to pull out of New York as a result, on the understanding the threat would be dropped. In the light of that terrifying figure, and the fact that they are now free to operate there legally, the companies will reflect that their outgoings in New York has been money well spent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The daily fantasy sports industry\u2019s victory in the New York legislature last week didn\u2019t come cheap. Just days after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed the state\u2019s DFS bill into law, heralding a new era of licensed and regulated fantasy sports contests, the New York Daily News revealed the true cost of DraftKings\u2019 and FanDuel\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":38195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,16],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nDFS Industry Spent $800,000 on Lobbying in New York<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"DraftKings\u2019 and FanDuel\u2019s push to win New York regulation did not come cheap, records reveal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"DFS Industry Spent $800,000 on Lobbying in New York\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DraftKings\u2019 and FanDuel\u2019s push to win New York regulation did not come cheap, records reveal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dfs-industry-spent-800000-lobbying-new-york\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-08T23:57:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-13T03:40:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/494043561-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dfs-industry-spent-800000-lobbying-new-york\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dfs-industry-spent-800000-lobbying-new-york\/\",\"name\":\"DFS Industry Spent $800,000 on Lobbying in New York\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dfs-industry-spent-800000-lobbying-new-york\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dfs-industry-spent-800000-lobbying-new-york\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/494043561-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-08T23:57:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-13T03:40:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"DraftKings\u2019 and FanDuel\u2019s push to win New York regulation did not come cheap, records reveal\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dfs-industry-spent-800000-lobbying-new-york\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dfs-industry-spent-800000-lobbying-new-york\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/dfs-industry-spent-800000-lobbying-new-york\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/494043561-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/494043561-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Eric Schneiderman, who threatened the DFS industry with potentially billions of dollars in fines. 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