Bill Simmons’ admission on his eponymous podcast Sunday that he used a proxy — in this case his daughter’s boyfriend — to place bets for him on FanDuel Sportsbook has resulted in action from FanDuel.
“We became aware of the issue and handled it consistent with our Terms and Conditions and Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) regulations, including reporting the matter to the MGC, voiding the bets, and actioning the account,” a FanDuel spokesman said late Tuesday afternoon.
As to what “actioning” meant exactly, the FanDuel spokesman had no further comment.
Per the Massachusetts law, the “action” is almost certainly a suspension of the account, but the regulations also go on to say that there is no specified minimum suspension period, nor any apparent requirement that the MGC approve an operator’s decision to reinstate the account. In addition, the MGC will investigate the situation and could take action against FanDuel.
“The Commission is aware of the comments made on The Bill Simmons Podcast, and staff are currently reviewing the matter,” said Thomas Mills, MGC spokesperson.
Simmons and FanDuel have a long-running partnership, which may or may not impact the length of the “action” taken against him by FanDuel.
How we got here
Simmons, speaking on the podcast that ran Sunday night, 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.
“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.”
FanDuel’s terms and conditions are straightforward, though the penalties are variable, based on the single word “may”: “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 are 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.” The law requires the operator cancel the wager and confiscate the cash, which is what FanDuel said it did.
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 violation. But, importantly, no timeframe is specified as to how long FanDuel needs to keep Simmons’ account suspended.
