Online payment processor Vantiv has announced it will no longer handle payments for daily fantasy sports operators, a potentially devastating blow for the already reeling DFS sector.

On Friday, the New York Times reported that Vantiv had informed its DFS clients – including market leaders DraftKings and FanDuel – earlier this week that it planned to “suspend all processing for payment transactions” for DFS in the US effective today (29).

In November, Vantiv expressed its unease re its potential risk in processing DFS transactions in New York State after Attorney General Eric Schneiderman handed DFS operators a cease and desist order. That same month, DraftKings got a Massachusetts court order preventing Vantiv from refusing to handle DFS transactions. A frustrated Vantiv asked the New York courts for official clarification on the legality of its DFS activities.

Vantiv’s letter to its DFS clients notes the growing number of state attorneys general who have issued negative opinions on DFS’ legality, and while DFS operators “have raised numerous arguments to the contrary, to date those arguments have been unsuccessful and/or rejected.”