Assemblyman Ken Zebrowski Calls for Assembly Task Force to Study Daily Fantasy Sports

“In light of the Attorney General’s cease and desist order today, I am formally requesting that the Speaker of the Assembly convene a task force or utilize a substantive committee to investigate the legality and internal procedures of the Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) industry. The Attorney General is interpreting and enforcing the law in an attempt to protect the public. Independent of what will likely become a lengthy legal challenge, I believe the Legislature should thoroughly analyze this issue with public input and debate. This request is not in contradiction of the Attorney General as he rightly has the prerogative to enforce his interpretation of the law. Instead, this should be an independent study to not only analyze the industry’s legality under current laws but to consider whether those laws should be changed and/or what regulations are necessary to safeguard consumers. Two things are clear: 1) This industry has exploded over the past several years and has become a national issue with hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers using it weekly and 2) There are legitimate legal and societal issues regarding the lack of regulations on businesses that are collecting and distributing hundreds of millions of dollars. Recent reports of employees winning massive sums of money from Daily Fantasy Sports, while possibly using private insider information is unacceptable. This issue is ripe for a legislative review."