New York state's attorney general asked Tuesday for a court order shutting down fantasy sports websites DraftKings and FanDuel in the latest move in a legal battle over the operations.

State attorney general Eric Schneiderman asked for a state court injunction after the two companies failed in their own bid for a court order to remain open.

Schneiderman issued an administrative cease-and-desist order on November 11 following an investigation by his office concluding the two websites are illegal gambling operations.

Fantasy sports -- where participants select real-life players to create a "fantasy team" whose performance is pitted against others -- have become wildly popular in the United States in sports such as basketball, hockey and American football.

The companies claim they are games of skill rather than gambling operations. But the two firms shut down operations in Nevada following a similar investigation.

In complaints filed in the latest court petitions, the state attorney general's office said DraftKings and FanDuel are both marketed as gambling operations.

The state argued that daily fantasy sports contests "pose precisely the same risks to New York residents that New York's anti-gambling laws were intended to avoid" and called them "a serious and growing threat to people at risk for, or already struggling with, gambling-related illnesses."
Source: AFP