Federal judge dodges question of daily fantasy sports’ legality

A daily fantasy sports operator has failed in its attempt to convince a federal court that its business model is agin’ the law.

In September 2015, DFS operator Emil Interactive Games, which operated under the DraftOps brand, inked a marketing deal with the National Hockey League’s Minnesota Wild franchise. The deal gave DraftOps certain advertising privileges and use of the Wild’s trademarks for a period of one year, for which Emil agreed to pay $1.1m, with late fees and interest charged at 1.5%.

The Nevada-based Emil Interactive was dissolved in October 2015, the same month Nevada’s Attorney General declared DFS to be a gambling product that required a gaming license. The company later reincorporated in Delaware, but DraftOps suspended operations shortly thereafter.

As a result, Emil never made any payments to the Wild, leading the Wild to sue Emil, its management company Full Boat LLC and Full Boat’s president Ronald Doumani for breach of contract.