Fantasy football ‘insider trading’ condemned

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, in opening his investigation, said DraftKings and FanDuel employees might have exploited their access to nonpublic data. “We will also prohibit employees from any Daily Fantasy Sports contest operator from participating in games on DraftKings”. DraftKings and FanDuel also said they will no longer allow employees to compete on other daily fantasy sites.

If enough fans start to wonder whether fantasy sports is a scam, the multi-billion industry with virtually no government oversight could go bust. Pam Roach, a Washington State Senator, stated that the hearing would take place in Olympia and would focus on the current law in which fantasy sports is illegal within the state when it comes to real money wagering.

Richey spends most of time on a fantasy football mobile app he created that gives DraftKings and FanDuel users access to sophisticated research tools and algorithms. “This is now big business and it should be regulated and I think they need to do a little damage control”, said Gentile.

“Now it’s clear that any of they shouldn’t be allowed to play on any of the public games on any of the competitor’s sites”.

On Monday, DraftKings and FanDuel posted identical joint statements on their websites saying nothing is more important to them than “the integrity of the games we offer to our customers”. FanDuel didn’t immediately return a message seeking comment about the lawsuit. Schneiderman is giving FanDuel, which is based in New York, and DraftKings, which is based in Boston, a week to respond to his questions.

Knowing the distribution of players on the DraftKings site can provide a fantasy player an advantage in games on FanDuel.

Both companies have since announced permanent bans on its employees playing on rival sites, and will try to prevent staff at other fantasy sports companies from playing on their sites.

In the past, Roach had presented a fantasy sports measure but did not find the support needed to move forward with the legislation. Griffiths says trust is FanDuel’s “top priority” and that it’s “crucial” to the company’s and industry’s success.

In September, Healey said her agency was reviewing any possible legal issues surrounding daily fantasy sports.

“We haven’t seen anything yet, but we expect it’s probably going to be the next bubble such as the Internet sweepstakes centers”, said Brian Kongsvik, director of The Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling.

The National Hockey League and NFL team owners Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and Robert Kraft of the New England Patriots have also made investments in daily fantasy sports.