Call For Regulation Of DFS (Daily Fantasy Sports) Grows Amid Shady Insider Trading Possibility At DraftKings

Knightrofins · Oct 5, 2015

I actually saw that article on that site when it was posted a week and a half ago. However, i thought they were percentage of players owned for tourneys that included the thursday nite game as well. I read this article on a friday.

In my opinion, since the games already started, i didnt see anything wrong with the article

RenoChazz · Oct 5, 2015

Defying said:
what's the difference between this and a sportsbook employee placing a sports bet else where?

I think the difference is it wouldn't have an effect on bets already made. In DFS it could change your payout.

HacheMan · Oct 5, 2015

Same message both sites...

FANDUEL

Integrity of Our Employees

While there has been recent attention on industry employees playing on FanDuel and DraftKings, nothing is more important to DraftKings and FanDuel than the integrity of the games we offer to our customers. Both companies have strong policies in place to ensure that employees do not misuse any information at their disposal and strictly limit access to company data to only those employees who require it to do their jobs. Employees with access to this data are rigorously monitored by internal fraud control teams, and we have no evidence that anyone has misused it.
However, we continue to review our internal controls to ensure they are as strong as they can be. We also plan to work with the entire fantasy sports industry on this specific issue so that fans everywhere can continue to enjoy and trust the games they love.

.......................................................................................................................................................

Nothing is more important to DraftKings and FanDuel than the integrity of the games we offer to our customers. Both companies have strong policies in place to ensure that employees do not misuse any information at their disposal and strictly limit access to company data to only those employees who require it to do their jobs. Employees with access to this data are rigorously monitored by internal fraud control teams, and we have no evidence that anyone has misused it.
However, we continue to review our internal controls to ensure they are as strong as they can be. We also plan to work with the entire fantasy sports industry on this specific issue so that fans everywhere can continue to enjoy and trust the games they love.

HacheMan · Oct 5, 2015

FanDuel And DraftKings Have Some Explaining To Do

Forbes.com
<time itemprop="datePublished" content="2015-10-05T15:59:00-04:00" class="ng-binding" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: 600; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: 11px; line-height: 22px; font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);">OCT 5, 2015 @ 03:59 PM</time>

TWEET THIS

Potential and current users may be dissuaded from participating in daily fantasy sports competitions when they believe that they are at an instantaneous disadvantage due to insiders having knowledge that they cannot possess

Earlier today, FanDuel and DraftKings, staunch rivals in the realm of daily fantasy sports, published separate reports on their respective websites that join the two together in <del style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; font-family: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">apology</del> explanation. FanDuel’s statement begins by noting that “there has been recent attention on industry employees playing on FanDuel and DraftKings.” Thereafter, each company said the following:

Nothing is more important to DraftKings and FanDuel than the integrity of the games we offer to our customers. Both companies have strong policies in place to ensure that employees do not misuse any information at their disposal and strictly limit access to company data to only those employees who require it to do their jobs. Employees with access to this data are rigorously monitored by internal fraud control teams, and we have no evidence that anyone has misused it.

However, we continue to review our internal controls to ensure they are as strong as they can be. We also plan to work with the entire fantasy sports industry on this specific issue so that fans everywhere can continue to enjoy and trust the games they love.

That statement makes it sound like something serious happened, which remains under review by FanDuel and DraftKings. It may be the first time that the competitors have found common ground after multiple rounds of raising funds against each other to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Roughly a week ago, an individual started a thread on a RotoGrinders message board and titled it, “DraftKings Ownership Leak.” User colinwdrew took issue to the fact that DraftKings published information concerning the breakdown of players selected in a “Millionaire Maker” contest with a prize pool in excess of $1 million to the winners of the competition. Many of the players listed on the “percentage owned” page were taking part in real games that had yet to begin, and thus, DraftKings users could adjust their lineups based on the provided data.

The situation became much more concerning when RotoGrinders co-founder Cal Spears discovered that the DraftKings representative who published the data in error had access to it before lineups were locked and could have used it to gain an advantage in selecting his own lineups on competitor FanDuel’s system. Spears later advised that it was his understanding that in this instance the DraftKings representative did not use the information to his advantage while competing in FanDuel’s offerings.

The data leak itself serves as a concern, but the idea of an employee gaining insider information to use at his own behest seems much more troubling. It brings to light main issues that the daily fantasy sports industry must now confront involving integrity and potential regulation.

BostonBettor · Oct 5, 2015

I really have to wonder if these guys are starting to lose touch with reality - I guess it makes sense given this is fantasy sports ha ha. Seriously, how is this supposed to reassure the every day player? Once this hits some high profile media, it's only a matter of time before the government gets more involved. Maybe even shut down dfs? Whatever is going to come down, these companies have brought it upon themselves. I enjoy playing, but I feel that over the past 6 months the industry seems more out of control. It's entirely possible that this employee made a legit mistake, and nothing sketchy went down - but this kind of blah blah statement from the two biggest sites in the business does nothing. These guys are constantly hyping the opportunity to win big money, but this incident raises questions about whether or not "insiders" are profiting by having an unfair edge. It's only fueled by the fact that it is extremely difficult to win lots of money, and there is a lot of jealousy out there, which is further fueled by the suspicion that not everything is on the up and up. FD and DK better get their shit together or the shit is going to come down on them.

Defying · Oct 5, 2015

idk maybe i'm being sort sided, but i just dont see how that affects my lineup...

BostonBettor · Oct 5, 2015

FYI - story has not hit the NYT.

Article showed up in my email, but has too many ads to try and paste.

PatsFan1283 · Oct 5, 2015

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/10/0...times&smtyp=cur&referer=http://m.facebook.com

There it is

NYT tried to rip Rubio cause his wife can't drive so you know they're gonna go after DFS hard.

NBAcapper08 · Oct 5, 2015

I probably won't be deposited with either sites anymore

bounceback · Oct 5, 2015

Where there is high amount of money, there will be crime.

Like biggie said..."Mo money, Mo problems".

Imo these sites got way too big for their own good. What makes some of these dfs employees not be playing under their friends name?

PatsFan1283 · Oct 5, 2015

It's really not that big of a deal. It isn't ideal and it shouldn't happen but it is a blip on the radar. Most of that info is very easy to predict (also most of it is available if you look at ownership %s from Thursday slates....sentiment changes from Thurs to Sun but not that much barring injury)

My guess is the 2 sites come to an agreement that involves employees not playing on other sites, something of that nature.

I wouldn't let it dissuade you from playing too much but everyone should make their own decision.

HacheMan · Oct 5, 2015

For those who know for sure....

Are DraftKings & Fanduel the same people?

If not, then why in the hell do they have the exact same message up on both sites?

Is it yet another slip up on their part in a matter of days?

Maybe they are the same ppl & keeping it hush-hush.

That would explain better how that guy won so much money with the same lineup at both places!

It's a no-brainer employees shouldn't be allowed to play at their own site because those running the computers can easily enter their lineups late, or even edit it if they wanted to, and the only way anyone could ever catch them is if someone just happened to take a random screen shot of lineups before & after at the right moment, and the odds of that are slim...

PatsFan1283 · Oct 5, 2015

No they aren't the same people, this isn't China, you wouldn't be able to hide something like that. They are entirely different companies with different founders and investors.

They collaborated on releasing a joint statement because of the coverage of the situation.

HacheMan · Oct 5, 2015

PatsFan1283 said:
No they aren't the same people. They are entirely different companies.

They collaborated on releasing a joint statement because of the coverage of the situation.

Did they REALLY collaborate or simply posted the exact same message on both sites by accident, and come up with the story of working together after the fact?

Conspiracy?

Probably, but not totally out of the question with what happened, especially that guy winning at both sites with the same lineup.

But who really knows.....

PatsFan1283 · Oct 5, 2015

Hache Man said:
Did they REALLY collaborate or simply posted the exact same message on both sites by accident, and come up with the story of working together after the fact?

Conspiracy?

Maybe.

But who knows.....

Yes, they really collaborated. The issue involved both sites and they knew they had to release a joint statement because of all the backlash towards the industry.

These are billion dollar businesses with 9 figure VC backing. This isn't 2 small sportsbooks in Costa Rica.

What you are saying wouldn't even be plausible in a Oliver Stone movie.

HacheMan · Oct 5, 2015

But thinking about it more, they both know they are in hot water right now with not only players, but the govt & those against DFS even before this happened, and know they better come together in a time of survival...

PatsFan1283 · Oct 5, 2015

All of their funding is registered with the SEC and we know who the owners of both sites are.

The situation is how it looks. Nothing less, nothing more.

Random tidbit: I actually met this Ethan kid a few yrs back. Seemed like a nice guy, I don't really think he was trying to do anything shady. I blame the sites for not realizing the industry isn't in it's infancy anymore and not seeing a problem like this coming. FD employees shouldn't be allowed to play on DK and vice versa.

HacheMan · Oct 5, 2015

PatsFan1283 said:
All of their funding is registered with the SEC and we know who the owners of both sites are.

The situation is how it looks. Nothing less, nothing more.

True

But it's time for regulation plain & simple.

Like I and others have said, nothing stops any of them from entering their own lineups late, editing lineups, or even faking thousands of entries...

PatsFan1283 · Oct 5, 2015

Regulation is almost never a good idea. If you allow the gov't to F something up, then they probably will.

But there does need to be some type of oversight and transparency.

One thing is for sure in the USA...if an industry doesn't police itself, then you better be sure the Gov't will.

They did it to themselves. I could've told them this dilemma would arise eventually. Although I didn't see it unfolding this way. Only reason it got brought to the forefront is because Ethan was dumb enough to post ownership %s before games started. F'n idiot.

HacheMan · Oct 5, 2015

PatsFan1283 said:
Regulation is almost never a good idea. If you allow the gov't to F something up, then they probably will.

But there does need to be some type of oversight and transparency.

One thing is for sure in the USA...if an industry doesn't police itself, then you better be sure the Gov't will.

They did it to themselves.

Well we don't want it to be illegal.

But they just increased those odds a lot.

Maybe this is how it all goes down in helping both fantasy & sportsbetting get legalized officially everywhere.

At least in sports betting it's pretty simple.

You pick a play and wait for the results.

Nothing fishy can happen with sports betting...