- At a Thursday hearing, Judge Charles Breyer signaled he will likely let the California class action against DraftKings proceed.
- The suit claims DraftKings’ daily fantasy and Pick6 contests are illegal sports wagering under state Penal Code section 337a.
- California’s attorney general issued a July 2025 opinion concluding that paid daily fantasy games violate that same statute.
- The judge said an injunction halting DraftKings’ paid fantasy contests in California is on the table.
SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge signaled Thursday that he will not throw out a class action accusing DraftKings of running illegal sports betting in California through its daily fantasy contests, telling lawyers he believes the games are likely prohibited by state law and that the players suing have adequately alleged a financial injury.
What The Judge Said
At the hearing on DraftKings’ motion to dismiss, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer indicated the court was inclined to reject the company’s bid to end the case, finding the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged a monetary injury and that the contests are likely barred by California law. Breyer said an order blocking the company’s paid daily fantasy sports in the state was among the possible outcomes. A written ruling is expected to follow.
The signal keeps alive a case DraftKings had already knocked down once. Breyer dismissed an earlier version of the complaint in December, giving the plaintiffs leave to refile, and they returned Jan. 20 with an amended complaint that added claims for money damages and named DraftKings chief executive Jason Robins, president Matthew Kalish, product president Paul Liberman and subsidiary Crown Gaming, Inc. as defendants.
What The Suit Alleges
The named plaintiffs, Oakland resident Zhicheng Zhen and Napa County resident Jonathan Smith, allege that DraftKings marketed its daily fantasy and Pick6 contests to Californians as legal while the contests amounted to unlawful wagering.
The complaint anchors that theory in California Penal Code section 337a, which bars receiving or holding bets, and pairs it with claims under the state’s unfair competition and consumer protection laws. It puts the amount in controversy above $5 million and cites an estimate that daily fantasy operators collect roughly $200 million in entry fees a year from California players.
Paid fantasy sits in a contested corner of gambling in California, a state where voters have twice rejected sports betting and lawmakers have never authorized it. DraftKings has said its peer-to-peer contests are legal and that it has operated in the state for more than a decade.
The Attorney General’s Opinion, And The Gap
The plaintiffs lean heavily on a July 3, 2025 opinion in which Attorney General Rob Bonta concluded that “California law prohibits the operation of daily fantasy sports games” and that such games “constitute wagering on sports in violation of Penal Code section 337a,” the opinion concluded. DraftKings said it disagreed and kept taking entries.
That opinion is advisory, not a court order, and Bonta’s promised DFS enforcement has yet to produce a state case against the operators. Breyer’s signal points to a different route to the same question: a private class action, not the attorney general, may be what forces a court to rule on whether daily fantasy sports in California is legal at all.
What Happens Next
Breyer’s comments were a preview, not a final decision; his written order on the motion to dismiss will set whether the case proceeds toward class certification and a possible injunction. If the suit advances, discovery would open DraftKings’ California operations to scrutiny, in a forum the company cannot resolve through the ballot box.