NEW YORK (Reuters) - Daily fantasy sports company DraftKings said on Tuesday it hired regulatory risk and compliance firm Exiger to conduct a review of its financial, operational, compliance and risk controls, as the company and its top competitor, FanDuel, have come under fire from state and federal regulators.
DraftKings said in a statement that Ray Pollitt -- a former Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent who was the lead case agent in the U.S. government's investigation of online poker -- will head up Exiger's efforts at the daily fantasy sports company.
The company said Exiger will help develop best practices for safety and consumer protection.
DraftKings and FanDuel are scheduled to face off against New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in court on Wednesday. Schneiderman has called daily fantasy sports illegal gambling and filed an injunction to shutter the companies in the state.
They have been at the center of controversy since early October when a DraftKings employee won $350,000 from a $25 entry in an American football contest on the rival FanDuel site.
The two companies then banned their employees from playing, but local and federal authorities began to investigate whether the fantasy sites offered games of chance, which were essentially gambling.