We may have the (victimless) (sports betting) Crime (nope) of the Century.
Bill Simmons, speaking on his eponymous podcast that posted Sunday night, openly admitted to engaging in proxy betting on his FanDuel account.
The Ringer founder Simmons, who has a long-standing partnership with the sportsbook, seemed hesitant at first to tell the story.
“I had to make some moves to be able to get these Houston [Texans] bets in a month ago that I don’t want to talk about,” Simmons said, with “Cousin” Sal Iacono piping in underneath, “I love this, please talk about [it]” and Simmons’ friend Joe House repeating, “He made some moves.”
Simmons paused for about four seconds, looked up and away at the camera, and then said, “I’m going to talk about it.”
He then explained, with clarity and detail, how he, in California, teamed up with his daughter’s boyfriend, in Massachusetts, to get down action on UCLA and Texans futures.
And while to many people this violates about as silly a rule as exists in sports betting, make no mistake: It is a rule.
FanDuel’s terms and conditions are straight-forward, though the penalties are variable, based on the single word “may” (the bold type is theirs): “Your account is solely for your personal use. Customers are prohibited from wagering on behalf of a third party and/or allowing other individuals to access their account. This is considered proxy betting and if detected by FanDuel, may result in a permanent suspension and forfeiture of winnings. This includes sharing accounts among friends or family and/or having another person log into your account for purposes of placing a wager on your behalf.”
Massachusetts penalties, however, are much more explicit. The state’s General Laws ch. 23N, §11(a)(iv) requires sportsbooks to prevent “persons from placing wagers as agents or proxies for others.” And if caught? The regulations classify anyone placing a wager as a proxy for another person as a “prohibited person,” meaning Simmons’ daughter’s boyfriend should now be banned from FanDuel. It also demands the operator cancel the wager and confiscate the cash.
And because Simmons said he gave another person access to his FanDuel account — something FanDuel’s terms expressly prohibit — Massachusetts regulations state that his account “shall be suspended” in the state if FanDuel has evidence of that terms-of-service violation.
Simmons’ story
After Simmons said he was going to talk about it, he paused again for a full five seconds.
“My daughter’s boyfriend Hank, who’s a great kid, both turned 21 this summer, as did my daughter, and FanDuel is in Massachusetts, obviously, and there was a couple of bets I really wanted to get in,” Simmons said. “I wanted … there was UCLA overs, but Houston, the market had not shifted appropriately yet. I can’t have my daughter do it. My dad would have no idea how to do it. But Hank, I really trust Hank. I let Hank log into my FanDuel as me. I get the code to make sure it’s me to my phone. I give him the code. He logs in, and I have all this money that I had from last year because I actually hit a bunch of futures last year, and he’s putting in bets for me and honestly it was the closest I’ve ever felt to Hank. It’s a real bonding moment for us. A week later, called him up and ran it back. We did some more.”
Of course, mileage may vary on how many pearls one clutches when it comes to a story like this, but it will be interesting to see if FanDuel or the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) decides to investigate and/or take action against Simmons.
Emails sent to both Fan Duel and the MGC seeking comment Monday morning were unreturned as of publication of this story.
