To Schneiderman on fantasy sports

Dear NYS Attorney General Schneiderman:

Thank you for not acquiescing in the face of Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) companies seeking to profit by misinforming New Yorkers.

That DFS promoters continue arguing their product isn’t gambling is an indication of the success they’ve enjoyed in shifting debate—away from false-hope schemes designed to separate people from their money, if they just keep separating themselves from more of it.

Our New York State Legislature, hoping to have DFS prosper here, is now wrestling with how to do so.

On the one hand, given the recent amendment to our state constitution authorizing seven yet-to-be-built, casinos—sold to us as economic prosperity generators—how are they to convince us that DFS wouldn’t undercut that bright shiny object they dangled before us?

On the other, while New York State’s constitution may be fuzzy on some things, its requirement that state government take its share of proceeds from gambling isn’t one of them. If, upon final adjudication, DFS is determined to be gambling, how is Albany to then sell yet another amendment to permit yet more state-sponsored gambling?

You, of course, do not make law. And I see no reason your office should feel obliged to assist our legislature in whatever scheme they propose the rest of us to buy into—if we just keep separating ourselves from common-sense.

Dave Colavito

Rock Hill, NY