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

HacheMan · Oct 4, 2015

DRAFTKINGS DOWNPLAYS INSIDER TRADING TALK BUT REGULATORS ARE LISTENING

PETER AMSEL
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]OCTOBER 3, 2015

[/FONT][FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]The increasing calls to regulate the daily fantasy sports (DFS) industry will likely grow even louder after it was suggested that a DraftKings employee had used inside information to win a six-figure prize.
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[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]Earlier this week, a thread was started in the RotoGrinders forum in which a DFS player complained that DraftKings’ written content manager Ethan Haskellhad publicly posted stats showing DFS player percentage ownership for Week 3 NFL contests that hadn’t yet started. The original poster argued that this was information to which an analyst ought not to have access and wondered how many other DraftKings employees had access to this type of information.
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[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]DraftKings’ Ethan responded to the post, taking responsibility for the release of the information, which he said had been an accident and that DraftKings would be “putting checks in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” Ethan also stated that he was the only person who had received this data and that company rules prevented him from playing on the DraftKings site.
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[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]However, DraftKings doesn’t prevent its employees from playing on rival DFS sites, including FanDuel, where it turns out Ethan placed second out of 230k lineups in that week’s biggest contest, earning a cool $350k in the process. This revelation has prompted many observers to question whether Ethan used his access to the DraftKings data to customize his FanDuel team lineups, which closely mirrored the DraftKings data.
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[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]After news of the controversy spread, RotoGrinders co-founder Cal Spears posted a response to the thread, saying “from what I’m told [Ethan] received the ownership report well after lineups locked on FanDuel … Ethan was not using this data to pick his week 3 teams on Fanduel,”
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[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]While this may well be an accurate description of what transpired, many posters have pointed out that they only have DK’s word on which to rely for reassurance. Whatever the truth, the uncertainty regarding what other industries would characterize as insider trading will leave a bad taste in players’ mouths as well as provide more ammunition for the politicians and legal authorities currently arguing for regulation to be imposed on the DFS sector.[/FONT]

HacheMan · Oct 4, 2015

[h=2]FanDuel & DraftKings Mishaps[/h]
https://dfsreport.com/6840/fanduel-draftkings-mishaps/

HacheMan · Oct 4, 2015

Players still able to edit their fighters after 1 round is over in UFC 192 DFS fantasy Saturday

https://rotogrinders.com/threads/ufc192-already-started-lineups-still-editable-863056

WorldNumberOne · Oct 4, 2015

Any way you slice it, the players picked still have to produce. Never a guarantee of that.

NBAcapper08 · Oct 4, 2015

world, with no regards to what ethan may or may not have done. theres no stopping draft kings from editing a line up when guys are going off and save themselves from paying a 2nd place guy 350k. with 300,000 entries u can't know everyones lineups. there is zero regulation. i love playing it but without the perfect lineup you'll never know if you should have won more money

HacheMan · Oct 4, 2015

NBAcapper08 said:
world, with no regards to what ethan may or may not have done. theres no stopping draft kings from editing a line up when guys are going off and save themselves from paying a 2nd place guy 350k. with 300,000 entries u can't know everyones lineups. there is zero regulation. i love playing it but without the perfect lineup you'll never know if you should have won more money

This is dead on.

I could come in here (TheRx) and say I have a contest and need a certain number to help fill it.

I talk several more into joining with them having no idea that the other 'participants' don't even exist...

HacheMan · Oct 4, 2015

[h=2]Follow up to DraftKings & FanDuel Mishaps[/h]
04 Oct 2015

Posted by Ben Brown

Much has been said about the initial piece that I wrote discussing DraftKings and FanDuel mishaps from the past week. A lot of discussion has been focused on DFS employee’s playing on other sites. To be 100% transparent this was my entire goal with the piece written about DraftKings. For a long time I have stood on the sidelines and wondered what info and data was available and to whom behind closed doors. The situation with Ethan Haskell releasing data early and also winning big on FanDuel was the scenario to get the ball rolling with this discussion. I may have focused too much on Ethan’s win and not enough on the discussion of all site employees having access to valuable information. Off the top of my head I can list four pieces of data that would be extremely valuable to all DFS players that only site employees currently have access to:

-Understanding of Player pricing algorithms and all data points that go into determining salaries

– Win/Loss records and how individual DFS players are actually performing

– Info regarding what is really winning each type of contest and the lineup construction that goes into it

– Player ownership information

The original story could have just as easily been about Matt Boccio who works in Product Operations at FanDuel.

WorldNumberOne · Oct 5, 2015

NBAcapper08 said:
world, with no regards to what ethan may or may not have done. theres no stopping draft kings from editing a line up when guys are going off and save themselves from paying a 2nd place guy 350k. with 300,000 entries u can't know everyones lineups. there is zero regulation. i love playing it but without the perfect lineup you'll never know if you should have won more money

no doubt. my buddies and i talk about it all the time. its why i concentrate on playing small entry contests or even heads up. i know who i am playing against.

i would hope these sites are on the up and up and realize they are printing money without cheating people.

manipulating lineups and just knowing the % of who's been played are 2 different things. knowing who's been used a certain % doesn't mean the guy is a lock to go off.

don't get me wrong, i don't think anybody should know anything about the lineups before the games have started, and I also don't like that players are still hidden from late games after the early games start. i think as soon as the 1st game kicks off, all players should be shown.

BostonBettor · Oct 5, 2015

The powers that be at DraftKings and FanDuel are so busy making money that imo they are giving less and less thought to the players they are trying to attract. I think regulation is needed, but I have to wonder who will be doing the regulating?

CHOPTALK · Oct 5, 2015

NBAcapper08 said:
world, with no regards to what ethan may or may not have done. theres no stopping draft kings from editing a line up when guys are going off and save themselves from paying a 2nd place guy 350k. with 300,000 entries u can't know everyones lineups. there is zero regulation. i love playing it but without the perfect lineup you'll never know if you should have won more money

Is all the lineups released the moment that the first game kicks off?

If so it can easily be tracked even if its over 300K people.

Recon792 · Oct 5, 2015

had a feeling this was happening --

trytrytry · Oct 5, 2015

the 15 minutes of fame for these joke rip off sites is ending. thank goodness.

Stax · Oct 5, 2015

No different than the online poker cheating.....it blows my mind how you have a gold mine, but find a way to fuck it up.

NBAcapper08 · Oct 5, 2015

CHOPTALK said:
Is all the lineups released the moment that the first game kicks off?

If so it can easily be tracked even if its over 300K people.

Tracked easily by a third party yes. You personally it would be impossible

CHOPTALK · Oct 5, 2015

NBAcapper08 said:
Tracked easily by a third party yes. You personally it would be impossible

Thats what im saying.
All someone has to do is collect all the lineups as soon as they are released with a program then match the lineup to the winning lineup to make sure it was in the database when the lineups were first released.

If the winning lineup was not in the original database then you would know cheating was going on.

I dont see anyway to rig it as long as the lineups are released as soon as the games kickoff.

Its more foolproof then online poker.

You are basically seeing the hands being dealt on National live TV for all to see.

Everyone has to turn over there hand when the first game goes off.

Defying · Oct 5, 2015

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

BostonBettor · Oct 5, 2015

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

The difference is that if a person who know's what he/she is doing has access to percentage of players owned before the contest goes off, he/she has a huge edge in putting together a winning lineup.

doubledeuce22 · Oct 5, 2015

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

Knowing the ownership %, which isn't info available until a lineup locks, is the most important info anyone could have and gives such an advantage I don't think you could even quantify it.

ML Dog · Oct 5, 2015

Stax said:
No different than the online poker cheating.....it blows my mind how you have a gold mine, but find a way to fuck it up.

I don't know if in the whole History of The World when a guy or a group came to be in such a position (with a Cash Cow wandering into their midst combined with the chance to make even more money if they just chose to be a little less than ethical) if they've managed to avoid the temptation. Resisting such temptation just may not be a thing the human brain is capable of....I mean seriously here...asking the human brain to not take advantage in such a scenario may be the equivalent of asking (and expecting) the brain to make the lungs stop breathing....to self-terminate. A thing its simply not capable of doing.

It amazes me that there is even discussion of this, as if those behind the scenes of these sites would not be seizing every advantage & opportunity that is presented to them to make money. Of course they are. You would be also. The Sum Total of Outcomes in such a scenario throughout all of Human History & Basic Human Psychology = a "Trend" that would blow the mind....likely be 143,872-3 to "yes they cheated"...

Amazes me that there could be a Gambler anywhere on Earth who does not realize, inherently, and know instinctually that there is underhanded stuff going on in DFS. And also, as with every other scenario like this, just a matter of time till exposure happens, Fall Guys are trotted out, regret, remorse tearfully expressed...same old story same old song and dance, my friends.

TEXX ASS '78

PatsFan1283 · Oct 5, 2015

doubledeuce22 said:
Knowing the ownership %, which isn't info available until a lineup locks, is the most important info anyone could have and gives such an advantage I don't think you could even quantify it.

By Sunday morning usually have a pretty good idea what ownership % is going to be. Atleast with a small margin for error but that is because I read a decent amount about the subject so I know what consensus is being formed and just sort of natural feel for who people are going with.

For someone to just have the info handed to them and use it on another site is BS though. The sites prices don't deviate that much so the info is pretty useful. It is the equivalent to insider trading.

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

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