NEW YORK — (CNN) FanDuel and DraftKings aren’t leaving New York without a fight.
State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman ordered the companies to stop letting New Yorkers play their daily fantasy games Tuesday, and on Wednesday both sites pledged to push back.
FanDuel said it plans to “fight back with everything in our arsenal.”
DraftKings said Wednesday it will challenge the ban in court, to keep its site up and running in New York state.
Schneiderman told the companies he plans to go after them for violating New York gambling laws.
The back and forth comes as daily fantasy sports fans are set to kick off the DFS [Daily Fantasy Sports] Players Conference, on Thursday in New York City. About 150 fans are slated to attend at a cost of $600 each.
The confab, co-sponsored by DraftKings and FanDuel, was scheduled long before Schneiderman determined that daily fantasy games are a form of illegal gambling.
“[W]e will have a big presence at the conference this weekend,” a FanDuel spokesperson said.
The event’s lineup includes the premiere of “Perfect Lineup,” a documentary about daily fantasy sports. ESPN fantasy football analyst Matthew Berry is slated to give a keynote speech.
RotoGrinders.com, a popular DFS fan forum, is behind the conference. The goal is to teach players “strategy” and “the best tools available” for improving their performance, according to its website.
But whether or not daily fantasy sports requires strategy is at the heart of its controversy.
It’s currently legal in most states because a series of court decisions and a 63-word provision of federal law that classify fantasy sports as a game of skill.
For the most part, games of skill are allowed under federal law. Illegal gambling is considered to be a game of chance.
Nevada recently ousted the companies saying that they are a game of chance, and Schneiderman echoed its claim that “unlike traditional fantasy sports, DFS is designed for instant gratification, stressing easy game play.”
Five other U.S. states ban also fantasy sports, and federal regulators are also investigating FanDuel and DraftKings.
“Traditional” fantasy sports contests that are run by ESPN, CBS and Yahoo reward players on a seasonal basis.
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