
Fantasy Aces’ situation seems to be alarming for its customers that are unable to withdraw their funds. Then the states that have regulated DFS have a duty to prosecute if the stricken company has co-mingled customers’ funds with operating costs.
Day-to-day fantasy sports (DFS) operator Fantasy Aces filed for bankruptcy this week after a last-ditch rescue effort by competitor Fantasy Draft fell through.
Alarmingly for players, it appears from the bankruptcy filing that the ongoing company is not able to pay significantly more than $1 million of players’ funds, and it has co-mingled customer money with its operating expenses.
‘The Fantasy Aces team truly regrets to announce we aren’t able to sustain our web site and business operations effective January 31st 2017, filing for protection under Chapter 7 bankruptcy law,’ the company told its customers on Wednesday.
‘After spending more than a year trying to secure long-term money, including recent negotiations with two notable organizations which subsequently neglected to close, we have been left having an unresolvable burden that is financial. We have actually unfortunately exhausted every possible option that is financial no success,’ the California-headquartered DFS company concluded.
Will Regulated Jurisdictions Prosecute?
Consumer protections and also the importance of operators to segregate player funds was a major driving force behind states using steps to regulate the DFS industry this past year.
If Fantasy Aces has indeed broken the legislation, it is the first test of the robustness of the new regulatory regimes, which have a duty to bring prosecution that is criminal the owners of your website if players from regulated states are proven to have been impacted.
Merger Impact
Meanwhile, it could be bad news for FanDuel and DraftKings’ proposed merger.
Antitrust laws protect fair competition for the benefit of customers and stop the creation of monopolies or businesses that are too dominant within one market. The fact that a combined DraftKings and FanDuel would control around a 95 per cent of this DFS market may be enough for the Federal Trade Commission to block the unification.
Nonetheless, as Marc Edelman, a professor of law during the City University of New York, stated in a column for Forbes this the removal of Fantasy Aces from the DFS market also removes its revenues from the denominator in calculating market share week.
In plain speaking, DraftKings and FanDuel may together own 96 or 97 percent of the market, now that Fantasy Aces is out of the picture, exacerbating the issue that is antitrust.
But also more significantly, writes Edelman, Fantasy Aces’ premature demise ‘also calls into doubt any theory raised by FanDuel and DraftKings lawyers that it would be effortless for new companies, with moderate funding, to enter the daily fantasy marketplace and take on their merged entity.
‘Indeed, if FanDuel and DraftKings’ antitrust lawyers was using Fantasy Aces’ ‘success’ to tell the tale about how smaller companies without activities league relationships could effortlessly enter the DFS marketplace even following a combined FanDuel DraftKings, that ‘success story’ has now been largely debunked,’ Edelman explained.
New Jersey Presents Two Sports Betting Bills to Congress and Gets Boost in Supreme Court
On the day that brand new Jersey’s United States Representatives Frank LoBiondo (R-District 2) and Frank Pallone Jr (D-District 6) offered two bills aimed at legalizing sports betting to Congress, hawaii ended up being also thrown a possible lifeline in its plight in the Supreme Court.
Neil Goruch, Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, is a good one for New Jersey and its quest to supply sports gambling at its casinos and racetracks. (Image: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
New Jersey has petitioned the court that is highest in the land to listen to an appeal of a Third Circuit ruling in August that blocked their state’s attempt to legalize sports gambling at its casinos and racetracks.
A decision on whether the appeal shall be heard was delayed as soon as the Supreme Court requested the US solicitor general file a short on the Trump administration’s view regarding the matter.
In the meantime, Trump has inadvertently handed brand new Jersey a boost in their selection of Neil Gorsuch over Thomas Hardiman as his US Supreme Court nominee.
Goruch Offers Statistical Advantage
Hardiman was one of those Third Circuit judges whom frustrated brand New Jersey in August. Had he been nominated, he might have had to recuse himself from the brand New Jersey sports wagering process. Thus, Goruch’s nomination helps New Jersey’s chances of success, as attorney Christopher Soriano explained to NorthJersey.com recently.
‘You need four votes [for the court to agree to take the case], and a majority of the court in an effort to win,’ Soriano explained. ‘then five out of eight to win on the merits if it had been Hardiman, New Jersey would have needed four of the eight [non-recused] judges, and. With Gorsuch, New Jersey requires four out of nine and five away from nine to win.’
Trump’s ultimate pick for solicitor general could also provide a significant effect on the truth because they will register the crucial brief to the court, outlining the federal government’s stance. Noel Francisco assumed the role of acting SG last week but the president has yet to recognize his option for the role that is permanent.
Pallone and LoBiondo Bills
Meanwhile, Pallone and LoBiondo have actually timed the introduction of their sport betting bills well, with just days to get before the Super Bowl, the most event that is widely bet-upon the US calendar.
The American Gaming Association estimates that $4.7 billion will be wagered on the game by Americans, 97 % of it illegally.
Pallone’s bill would exempt New Jersey from PASPA, the federal law that prohibits sports gambling, while LoBiondo’s bill seeks to permit all states to regulate sports gambling during a four-year screen.
‘Sports betting is already happening across our state and across the country, but instead of being appropriately overseen and raising needed revenue for the casinos, racetracks, businesses, and also the state, these bets are positioned through illegal enterprises,’ Pallone said. ‘It is time and energy to bring this activity out of the shadows.’
Did Steve Wynn Donate $7 Million of Wynn Resorts Stock to Fund Trump Inauguration?
Steve Wynn provided away $7 million worth of shares in Wynn Resorts to an unknown party one thirty days before Donald Trump’s inauguration, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Steve Wynn and Donald Trump are old buddies and a SEC filing suggests Wynn might have helped fund Trump’s inauguration with Wynn Resorts shares. (Image: forbes.com)
The transaction was detailed as a ‘charitable gift,’ prompting speculation that Wynn, who declared he was sitting on the fence during the election that is presidential, ultimately put his money behind his old friend once the votes had been counted.
Donors to Trump’s inauguration raised $90 million and Wynn was among a group plumped for by Trump to help organize the events on January twentieth.
On Tuesday, Wynn was made finance chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC), and the next day, it had been established that the RNC’s political manager, Christopher Carr, was to become Wynn Resorts’ newest vice president that is senior.
In a statement released Wednesday, the organization said Carr would maintain its government relations, charitable giving, community development initiatives, therefore the expansion of the Wynn worker Foundation.
No Big Deal?
This obvious cosiness between Wynn and this new administration belies the casino mogul’s frustration with both candidates in the run-up to the election. In August year that is last he told the Financial Times he had been looking forward to a ‘really smart discussion.’
‘I’m wanting a more significant conversation, politically and publicly, about the economy of the usa and exactly what it actually takes to make a better life for its citizens,’ Wynn declared. ‘There’s so much misinformation being put away that it’s also discouraging.’
Wynn Las Vegas spokesman Michael Weaver did not touch upon whether the stock was donated to the Trump inauguration, although there is absolutely no recommendation that, if it were, it would not be legal.
Bob Biersack, a fellow that is senior the middle for Responsive Politics in Washington, DC, and a veteran of the Federal Elections Commission, told the nevada Review-Journal there is no reason why company stock cannot be donated to political organizations.
‘There generally speaking is not a positive change between stock or other assets and a far more ‘normal’ cash contribution,’ said Biersack.
Elaine Wynn Lawyers Barred
Talking about Wynn Resorts’ stock, Steve Wynn’s ex-wife, Elaine, was dealt a blow this week in her ongoing appropriate battle to regain control of her equity in the business. A Nevada judge barred her legal team from court them altogether while she decides whether to disqualify.
Included in the amicable divorce settlement in 2010, Elaine signed a provision stating she wouldn’t normally sell her shares into the company. But relations have deteriorated since, and she’s now attempting to wrestle back control of her stock.
According to Bloomberg, it’s alleged that Elaine’s lawyers failed to reveal to the court and Wynn Resorts’ lawyers that they possessed proprietary information about Steve Wynn, which his ex-wife had downloaded on her behalf computer.
‘I’ve had stories that are multiple time I’ve dealt with this information,’ District Judge Elizabeth Gonzalez said. ‘The fact that the story changes whenever some information that is new up gives me an advanced of concern, which is why I am wanting to preclude Elaine Wynn’s lawyer from affirmatively reaching out to anyone.’
Del Lago Resort and Casino Opens in Upstate New York
The Del Lago Resort and Casino in Seneca County, nyc, opened its doors on to hundreds of eager visitors wednesday. The Ithaca Journal stated that some had waited outside for five hours in near-freezing temperatures, while gridlocked traffic snaked back towards the New York State Thruway.
Whenever Del Lago Casino Resort exposed in ny State’s Seneca County on Wednesday, locals hungry to gamble waited outside in frigid temps getting their first flavor of the casino that is new. (Image: WRVO Public Media)
That they had arrived at get yourself a glimpse of the casino that is second open in Upstate brand New York, and the biggest so far. And they had come to manage to get thier gamble on.
‘People are anxious to come in and they ought to be,’ brand New York Governor Andrew Cuomo told the crowd assembled for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. ‘Today we are standing in a monument that is magnificent of intelligent your decision to legalize gambling enterprises ended up being, how it’s going to spur the economy. I do think the best is yet in the future. https://myfreepokies.com/pokies/ We are on our way.’
In 2013, voters in the Empire State approved Proposition One, amending the constitution to authorize the licensing of up to seven private casinos that are commercial. A year later, four licenses were made available in four split regions.
3.2 Million Visitors Expected
Tioga Downs, located 30 miles west of Binghamton near the Pennsylvania border, had been the first to ever open on December 2. According to state records, Tioga generated gross gaming revenues of about $9.5 million in its very first seven weeks. But del Lago boasts twice the total amount of video gaming tables and slots and believes it has twice the earnings potential.
The $440 million casino features 2,000 slot machines, 77 table games, including blackjack, craps and roulette, and a poker room with 12 poker tables. a 205-room hotel, spa, and restaurant is scheduled to start this summer time.
Developers Wilmorite and JNB Gaming anticipate 3.2 million site visitors per year and be prepared to net $263 million, that will produce $68 million in taxes for the state.
Increased Competition
Cuomo was eager to stress the economic benefits of the venture towards the area. The opening of the casino has established 1,800 jobs, he said, plus there is many others temporary construction jobs during the next phase of development. But not everybody is happy.
Del Lago has made no secret of the fact that the maximum amount of as half of its revenues will be drawn from current customers of racinos and Indian casinos in the location. The Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona and the new Yellow Brick Road Casino in Chittenango during construction, the casino faced opposition not only from anti-gambling groups but also the Oneida Nation, which operates two properties within an 80-mile radius.