The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said on Monday it will seek to stop the merger of DraftKings and FanDuel, because the combined company would control more than 90 percent of the U.S. market for paid daily fantasy sports contests.
The FTC, along with the attorneys general of California and the District of Columbia, will file a complaint in federal district court seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the deal, the antitrust regulator said.
The two companies announced the deal in November 2016 as a merger of equals.
Between them, the two companies have 95 percent of daily fantasy sports, according to data from Eilers and Krejcik Gaming. DraftKings and FanDuel have argued that they compete against larger, more powerful companies in the broader fantasy sports business, like ESPN and Yahoo.
Modern fantasy sports started in 1980 and have mushroomed online. Participants typically create teams that span an entire season in professional sports, including American football, baseball, basketball and hockey.
Daily fantasy sports, a turbocharged version of the season-long game, have developed over the past decade into a multibillion-dollar industry.
Participants draft teams for a single game, enabling fans to spend money on contests with a frequency critics compare to sports betting.