Fantasy sports site DraftKings has filed a motion seeking a temporary restraining order preventing New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman from enforcing the order to shut down because he said its operations constituted illegal gambling.
The cease-and-desist letter was also sent to FanDuel, another major daily fantasy sports site.
In a statement Monday, DraftKings said it believes the temporary restraining order is necessary "and warranted to protect DraftKings' business while we pursue our legal action to prevent the New York Attorney General from denying New Yorkers the right to continue playing the daily fantasy sports games they love."
The move comes days after DraftKings and FanDuel filed court papers in state Supreme Court in Manhattan askiing a judge to rule on the legality of their businesses.
Earlier this month, Schneiderman ordered the fantasy sites to stop taking bets in New York, calling the companies illegal gambling sites.
But in court papers, both companies argue the opposite. They say daily fantasy sports are actually more skill-based than season-long fantasy sports, which are legal in New York. They also claim Schneiderman threatened their business partners and payment processors.
DraftKings' suit calls the cease-and-desist order "unconstitutional" and alleges Schneiderman is "misreading" New York's gambling laws, and attempting to "bully" DraftKings and its vendors into immediately shutting down its New York operations before it has a chance to defend itself.
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The company says New York is home to more than 7 percent of its customers.
"The Attorney General's actions constitute a shocking overreach," the suit reads. "He has unleashed an irresponsible, irrational, and illegal campaign to destroy a legitimate industry, intending to deprive hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers of the use and enjoyment of these services."
Schneiderman's office didn't immediately respond to an email request for comment on the temporary restraining order motion filed Monday. Previously, a spokesman said the companies are operating illegally.
Fantasy sports has been a popular U.S. pastime for years, but daily contests, where winners and losers are decided in one night, rather than over the course of a season, have exploded in popularity recently. DraftKings and FanDuel have advertised heavily on the Internet and TV ahead of and during the 2015 NFL season.
The sites have come under increased scrutiny since it was revealed last month that a midlevel DraftKings employee playing fantasy football beat more than 200,000 other players, winning $350,000 on rival FanDuel. The case raised questions about insider trading after game data not publicly accessible was inadvertently posted online.
NBC's parent company, Comcast Corp., and NBC Sports are among the investors in FanDuel.
