Seth Vigdor
The saga continues. A new New York Times article is showing no mercy on DraftKings and FanDuel. The Times is now calling into question the assertion by both websites that their employees didn’t enjoy any inside benefits while playing games on their rival’s sites.
In this most recent New York Times piece, they provide an anecdote from Madison Calvert, a DFS player who calls into question the game’s integrity based off of intending a private party hosted by DraftKings. Calvert recalls at the party speaking about contest choices with Jon Agular, an executive of the site, who briefly checked his phone while with Calvert. Calvert was surprised with what happened next. After Agular checked his phone, Agular would then inform Calvert that his choice of pitchers was poor because many other players had selected him. This goes straight to the heart of what the big issue is. Who has access to the game data and what measures are being taken to protect that data? I may sound like a broken record, but clearly more people have access to this data than DraftKings and FanDuel would like us to believe.
The Times would then cite two employees, one of which is responsible for analytics at DraftKings and the other who’s responsible for setting players’ prices on FanDuel, both of whom recently won some juicy payouts ($50,000 each) from rival sites this year.
Oh, and if you think that DraftKings and FanDuel aren’t in it for the long haul, FanDuel has hired its first lobbyist (!), James D. Barnette, a partner at law firm Steptoe & Johnson, and public policy staffer Lisa Mortier registered to lobby for the site this month. The party is just getting started when you take corrupt businesses like DraftKings and FanDuel and sprinkle in Washington politics.
Clearly, we all can see where this is going. The little guy will continue to get royally screwed.