Workers affiliated with any other daily fantasy sports contest will be unable to play on DraftKings as well.
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The House of Representatives could hold hearings this fall, said Representative Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
FanDuel retained former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey to lead an investigation and “evaluate our internal controls, standards and practices”, the company said in a statement.
Media reports yesterday raised issues concerning an employee from another fantasy site participating in our NFL Sunday Million contest last week.
Effectively immediately, DraftKings employees will be permanently prohibited from participation in any public daily fantasy games for money.
Reid’s statement raises the prospect of congressional scrutiny and possibly new regulations for websites such as DraftKings and FanDuel that have drawn millions of users who pay a fee to compete for daily prizes by assembling teams that accumulate points based on how the players did in actual games. The way fans have embraced our games is a clear sign that fantasy sports is here to stay.
To the surprise of no one who has been following this, daily fantasy sports (DFS)-the sports betting phenomenon sweeping the United States-is in a few hot water.
Both FanDuel and DraftKings barred their employees from participating in fantasy sports until a detailed industry policy on data access was established. ESPN on Tuesday said it would continue to run televised ads for DraftKings and FanDuel, but would no longer use the sites as sponsors for program segments. An employee at the latter won $350,000 through the former after admitting to unintentionally unveiling private data before the start of the third week of the National Football League season.
Also requested is information on any company policies meant to prevent this sort of “insider trading” and guidelines governing employee behavior.
On ESPN’s “Outside the Lines”, Darren Rovell reported that a FanDuel spokesperson had provided data on how much money DraftKings employees had won at FanDuel. For example, there are varying restrictions for fantasy sports in Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Montana and Washington.
“Despite how mainstream these sites have become, though, the legal landscape governing these activities remains murky and should be reviewed”, Pallone said. The internal data, describing how often players are selected by all players in the salary-cap style game, could be used strategically to build a lineup of players with a lot of potential who aren’t popular selections among opponents.
The DraftKings employee allegedly used the data that cited the percentage of fans who selected certain players.
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The controversy is also likely to amplify calls from USA lawmakers to examine the fantasy sports industry more closely.
