DraftKings, FanDuel respond to reports of fantasy-sports scandal
After an employee was accused of using insider data to win money, the organizations released a joint statement, extolling ‘the integrity of the games we offer to fans.’
A DraftKings employee won $350,000 on competitor fantasy-sports website FanDuel. In the same time period, DraftKings admitted to releasing data before the third week of games had begun for the National Football League.
Fortune reporter Daniel Roberts explained why many are calling foul:
A DraftKings employee, Ethan Haskell, had access to DraftKings ownership data, meaning that he may have seen which NFL players had been selected by DraftKings users, and by how many users. That would have helped him select his own lineup on FanDuel, because the two sites work so similarly and typically have the exact same “price” for each player in a given week.
“It is absolutely akin to insider trading,” a Becker & Poliakoff sports and gambling lawyer, Daniel Wallach told CNBC. “It gives that person a distinct edge in a contest.”
The rival companies have teamed up to do damage control.
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