The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) voted Thursday to hold an adjudicatory hearing to determine enforcement on FanDuel in a case in which media personality Bill Simmons made proxy bets. Using a proxy to bet in Massachusetts is a violation of MGC and FanDuel rules.
The date of the hearing has not yet been set.
Zachary Mercer of the Investigations Enforcement Bureau (IEB) revealed that Simmons placed 22 wagers over three days totaling $21,800 between Aug. 7-19, 2026 via a proxy. Simmons shared on his Aug. 30 podcast that he had made the wagers through his daughter’s boyfriend, Hank, who is 21, the minimum legal age to bet in Massachusetts.
On the Aug. 30 podcast, Simmons offered up his story in great detail, explaining that he was in California at the time the bets were placed, but wanted to get money down on UCLA and Houston Texans futures.
From the podcast:
“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.”
The day after the podcast, FanDuel self-reported the violation to the MGC, voided the bets, and took action on the account, though the company did not reveal what, exactly, that meant.
In discussion, Commissioner Paul Brodeur asked if the IEB was presenting information specifically about enforcement against FanDuel or Simmons or his daughter’s boyfriend. Mercer said there was nothing to preclude the IEB or commission from ultimately taking enforcement action against FanDuel, Simmons, or Hank.
Commissioner Eileen O’Brien suggested that the case was an “opportunity” for the MGC and FanDuel to do a “deeper dive” into proxy betting.
Other violations, fines
The Simmons situation was one of four brought to the commission’s attention Thursday. The other two:
- Fanatics Sportsbook allowed customers to generate and send “refer a friend” bonus links. Seventy-one patrons generated 102 refer a friend links sent to 102 people.
- BetMGM took more than 300 wagers from accounts that were located outside of the state, or were so close to the geofence that the bets should have been denied. On Oct. 23, 2025 between 8:22 a.m.-10:31 p.m., the company took 17 bets totaling $392 from nine accounts located in another state in which BetMGM is licensed, 109 wagers from 56 accounts totaling $4,936.59 from accounts outside of Massachusetts in areas where BetMGM is not licensed, three bets totaling $66 from accounts in Massachusetts that should have blocked due to how close they were to the border, and 190 bets totaling $15,564.42 from 25 accounts in Massachusetts that “should have been blocked for device modification or software reasons.” The MGC requested that the IEB do more investigating and circle back.
- Fanatics Sportsbook failed to notify 132 patrons it decided to limit between July 29-Sept. 7. The commission requested that the IEB do more investigation and agreed to hold an adjudicatory hearing.
Both operators self-reported the issues and pointed to technical updates or glitches as the reasons the issues arose. BetMGM and Fanatics said the issues have been rectified.
The IEB went on to recommend fines in three other cases, and the commission voted to approve all of the fines:
- A $7,500 fine to Caesars Sportsbook for allowing betting on a non-approved boxing match.
- A $7,500 fine to MGM-Springfield for allowing betting on the Heisman Trophy, which is a banned market.
- A $10,000 fine to Caesars Sportsbook for allowing betting on a Northeastern University baseball game. The MGC does not allow betting on Massachusetts college sports teams.
The commission also approved changes to house rules for BetMGM, Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, and FanDuel while staff said it has started the process of crafting renewal documents for sports betting operators. The first round of renewals since online betting went live in March 2023 is set for February.
