Report says DOJ to declare DFS gambling; DraftKings lawyers up, cuts NBA spending

The US Department of Justice is planning to declare daily fantasy sports to be a gambling activity, according to media reports.

Late Thursday, the New York Post quoted a Washington, DC source saying that the DOJ, which reportedly launched an investigation of the DFS industry last month, would “move to declare daily fantasy site activity gambling.” The source claimed the DOJ was “expected to take some action” on the DFS issue before year’s end.

Preet Bharara, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York who led the 2011 Black Friday online poker indictments, was said to have opened an investigation into the DFS industry last month.

The Post report came shortly after DFS operator DraftKings announced it had hired high-priced attorneys David Boies and Johnathan Schiller, who founded the firm of Boies, Schiller & Flexner, to fight the cease & desist order issued to DraftKings and rival FanDuel this week by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who formally accused the companies of being illegal gambling operators.