BUFFALO, N.Y. -- After roughly five years of litigation, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that daily fantasy sports is constitutional, reversing the decision of two lower courts.
Daily fantasy sports continued to be allowed while the case went through the judicial system.
"The appellate division's order declaring it unconstitutional couldn't go into effect until the appeal to the Court of Appeals was concluded and now that we have a reversal it will never do into effect. DFS is as good as it was the day it was adopted," said Rob Rosborough, attorney and NY Appeals Blog author.
Rosborough said Presiding Justice Hector LaSalle cast the deciding vote, in for recused Judge Michael Garcia. A six-judge panel that heard the case last year was split.
This year, in a 4-3 decision, the panel decided daily fantasy was a game of skill, not chance.
"The other three judges who were in the side in favor of DFS the first time around this was argued stayed where they were, so it was just presiding Justice LaSalle who cast the deciding vote," Rosborough said.
State Senate Gaming Committee Chair Joe Addabbo said the ruling is good for the state. Despite collecting revenue on DFS, he said the numbers have not been particularly good, and he believes that was the case because operators were tentative with continued litigation.
"They didn't know whether to advertise, market more money, invest more money in marketing. The New Yorkers I spoke to were a little apprehensive about what's going on. You know, can we, can't we? They've seen the proliferation of ads for mobile sports betting but they saw no ads anymore for fantasy sports," Addabbo said.
Mobile sports betting continues to be a cash cow for the state, which has been the nation's number one market since officially allowing operators to go live earlier this year. DraftKings Director of Sports Operation Johnny Avello said the company expects the NCAA Basketball Tournament currently in progress to again draw huge numbers.
"The Super Bowl is a one-day event. This is an event that takes place over three weeks and ten different days and so when you compile all those together, this is going to be bigger than the Super Bowl, much bigger," Avello said.