NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Taking Bets in the State

Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by JonFish85 on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @07:12PM (#10543738)

Is it about that specifically, or is it that the states are forcing these websites to play by the same rules as everyone else? Ignoring laws that everyone else has to play by is something that has worked so far for Airbnb and Uber but apparently something like gambling is a bit more clear cut.

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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by tikhonj on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @07:36PM (#10543864)

The two aren't mutually exclusive. If they are just forcing them to "play by the same rules", Chollida's question just becomes "why are the rules in the state stacked against gambling?", with the rest of the question unchanged.

It's perfectly possible to fairly enforce unfair (and/or fair but counterproductive) rules, but that on its own doesn't justify it. Viewed this way, these companies are then just engaging in something like constructive noncompliance.

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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by rayiner on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @07:54PM (#10543967)

Your question reduces to: why is gambling illegal? And the answer is that lots of people don't like it, and people are entitled to make things they don't like illegal.

A recent poll found that 55% of people think sports betting should be legal, while 33% think it should be illegal: https://www13.shu.edu/academics/business/sports-polling/uplo.... But if you read closely, support drops off dramatically in the 45+ age group, which is heavily over-represented at the polls, especially in local elections.

One study found that the median age of voters in mayoral elections in four cities was 60: http://www.knightfoundation.org/blogs/knightblog/2015/7/28/p....

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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by Spooky23 on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @09:29PM (#10544432)

Gambling is illegal in most places because it's an addictive behavior that causes a lot of social problems and attracts an undesirable element.

States started rolling out lotteries 50-60 years ago as a regressive tax scheme that also helped to reduce demand for illegal numbers rackets.

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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by jdminhbg on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @09:19PM (#10544384)

> people are entitled to make things they don't like illegal

Things like gay marriage, flag burning, and atheists holding public office, right?

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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by GalacticDomin8r on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @09:31PM (#10544438)

That known as the "tyranny of the majority" and yes it's one of those warts no one likes to credit democracy with.

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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by rayiner on Wednesday November 11, 2015 @12:19AM (#10544950)

Those are the exceptions that prove the rule. Only when it implicates a fundamental right will the majority be precluded from banning things they dislike.

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Re:NY Attorney General Tells Daily Fantasy Sports to Stop Ta... by JonFish85 on Tuesday November 10, 2015 @07:48PM (#10543928)

That is an entirely different question, but the answer probably isn't that anyone can ignore inconvenient laws under the guise of "It's unjust"

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