FanDuel will not stop offering college fantasy games even though NCAA officials have already barred its athletes from participating in the sport.
Sports news outlet ESPN.com obtained a letter penned by FanDuel’s chief lawyer Christian Genetski, in which he said the site “does not plan to make changes to our games at this time, and certainly not without further conversations with you.
In the letter, which was addressed to NCAA Vice President Mark Lewis, Genetski stressed the association has no legal basis for forcing FanDuel to stop offering college fantasy games because the names in the statistics “cannot implicate their amateur status,” according to the news agency.
Last month, NCAA has forbidden college athletes from any kind of sports wagering, including playing fantasy sports, which it believes “has the potential to undermine the integrity of sports contests and jeopardizes the welfare of student-athletes and the intercollegiate athletics community.”
Any student-athlete caught wagering will face a one-year ban, the association said.
NCAA had extended that ban to include its referees and other game officials last week. In another letter, the association told FanDuel and DraftKings to stop offering DFS contests on NCAA events, telling the DFS operators that their products “should not be offered in the college space for a variety of reasons.”
Pallone wants names of DFS-playing NFL personnel
Following the steps of NCAA, New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone has also asked the two DFS websites to provide the names of personnel from the NFL who have participated in their contests.
According to a New Jersey 101.5 report, the lawmaker sent a letter to both DraftKings and FanDuel, in which he asked for a list of participants not only from the NFL, but also from the Major League Baseball, the NHL and the NBA. The request includes players, referees, coaches, trainers, medical staff, team management, and even the owners.
Pallone also wants to know if these DFS players’ earnings go beyond $250. In a separate interview with MSNBC, he believes there’s a $250 cap on winnings for NFL players, but the league has not been clear.
Pallone was among the legislators who first questioned the legality of daily fantasy sports sites. In September, the lawmaker called for a probe on the link between gambling and fantasy sports, which he said has been making an obvious interplay between federal laws.
“The whole issue is the integrity of these fantasy sports sites,” Pallone told MSNBC’s Craig Melvin in an interview.
It hasn’t been a good month for the daily fantasy sports industry, which has been plagued by weeks-long controversy. Despite this, company execs are sticking by their story that DFS isn’t illegal gambling because it’s a skill game.
