SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
US daily fantasy sports (DFS) commentators and fans have called for stricter industry monitoring and regulation following allegations that employees at leading fantasy sports operators FanDuel and DraftKings were using insider data on rival DFS portals.
The New York Times said that DraftKings employee Ethan Haskell (Content Manager) had inadvertently published NFL data regarding DraftKings biggest contest, The Millionaire Maker.
The NFL Game Week 3 data detailed player selection percentages, which were published whilst DFS competitions were still open. Access to this kind of data prior to the start of a DFS contest would provide a player with a massive advantage over tournament competitors.
Further player concerns arose as Haskell won $350,000 prize money at rival FanDuel the week of the data leak. Haskell winnings on FanDuel have led to observers raising questions about DFS industry operations regarding player and contest data.
At present employees at DraftKings and FanDuel employees are not prohibited from participating on other DFS platforms.
DFSReport.com who first broke the news regarding the data mishap, have detailed that a number of DFS employees have featured as top market performers.
The DFS information portal details Matthew Boccio, FanDuel Operations Manager, who is featured as a DraftKings top 50 player despite having only begun playing on the platform this June.
Addressing the allegations, both leading US operators have released corporate statements maintaining that they operate strong data policies and employee access to sensitive information.
The operators further detailed that they would continue to review internal controls to ensure standards and player trust.
