The start of the National Football League season this fall was meant to be the breakout moment for the daily fantasy sports industry. The two leading startups in the business, DraftKings and FanDuel, spent more than $100 million on ads to make themselves ubiquitous to virtually everyone watching, listening to, attending, or reading about sporting events. The ad blitz attracted millions of new customers. It also brought unwanted attention to the sites, which offer prize money to entrants who pick the best-performing lineups of players from real sports teams. The scrutiny increased after an Oct. 5 New York Times story raised questions about daily fantasy employees taking advantage of inside information to win money. On Oct. 13, U.S. Representative Frank Pallone Jr. and Senator Bob Menendez, both New Jersey Democrats, held a press conference to call for tighter regulation of fantasy sports. The following day the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Justice was investigating whether fantasy sports sites violate laws limiting online gambling. The day after that, Nevada ordered fantasy sites to cease operations and seek state gaming licenses. The Illinois Gaming Board asked the state attorney general on Oct. 16 whether it should follow suit.
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