The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is reviewing Bill Simmons after he described, on Sunday's episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast, having his daughter's 21-year-old boyfriend log into his FanDuel account from Massachusetts. [1] "The Commission is aware of the comments made on The Bill Simmons Podcast and staff are currently reviewing the matter," a commission spokesperson told Front Office Sports, as reported Tuesday by Awful Announcing. [1] FanDuel is the exclusive betting partner of The Ringer, the company Simmons founded and still fronts. [1] The book sells his voice. Tuesday it had to sell his compliance.
Simmons did not dress the arrangement as a loophole. He named it. "My daughter's boyfriend, Hank, who's a great kid, turned 21 this summer, as did my daughter," he said. [1] He wanted UCLA overs before the Houston market moved. "I can't have my daughter do it, my dad would have no idea how to do it. But Hank, I trust Hank." [1] "I let Hank log into my FanDuel as me, [sent] the code to make sure it's me to my phone, I give him the code, he logs in." [1] He called it "the closest I've ever felt to Hank. Real bonding moment for us." [1] A week later, he said, they "ran it back." [1]
What he described is proxy betting. It is against FanDuel's terms of service and against Massachusetts law. [1] Sportsbooks in the state must "prevent persons from placing wagers as agents or proxies for others." [1] FanDuel's own terms say proxy betting "may result in a permanent suspension and forfeiture of winnings." [1] After Front Office Sports reported the comments, FanDuel said it had "reported the matter to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, voided the bets, and actioned the account." [1]
He also told listeners why the account was loaded. "I have all this money that I had from last year because I actually hit a bunch of futures last year. And he's putting in bets for me." [1] The specific itch was UCLA overs, placed before Houston's market moved. [1] Awful Announcing infers he was in California or another state where sports betting is still illegal. [1] The login, the code texted to his phone, and the Massachusetts boyfriend are the facts on the tape. Two sessions, a week apart, are on the tape too. [1] The geography is the inference that makes those facts a Massachusetts problem.
A league-adjacent betting spokesman describing a proxy in a legal state is not a close call under the statute. It is a close call under a partnership. The Ringer's audience is the reason FanDuel pays for the association. That audience just heard how to get a bet down from a state that does not allow the account holder to place it himself. The commission's review is the first public test of whether that demonstration costs the spokesman what it would cost a listener who copied it.
Voided bets and an actioned account are what an ordinary customer gets. Simmons is not an ordinary customer. He is the talent whose show carries the book's brand. Awful Announcing noted it is "difficult to imagine FanDuel would take any serious action against one of its biggest partners." [1] The commission has no such loyalty. If it finds a breach, it can cancel wagers and confiscate funds used to place the proxy bets. [1] That is the statute. The test is whether the statute applies to the spokesman.
The shrug is built into the tape. Simmons offered the login as intimacy, not as a confession of a crime. He trusted Hank because his daughter could not do it and his father would not know how. [1] Podcast culture will hear a father-in-law bit. The book will hear a terms-of-service violation it had to report because the man said it into a microphone. The regulator will hear a Massachusetts login on a California personality's account. Exclusive partners do not usually get their accounts actioned in public. Tuesday they did, and they remain exclusive partners. Permanent suspension and forfeiture sit in FanDuel's own terms. [1] Confiscation sits in the statute. [1] Both were written for the other kind of bettor. The review will show whether they were written for this one.
-- AMARA OKONKWO, Lagos