DraftKings Has No Comment on ‘Insider Info’ Policy as Scandal Boils Over
Leading Daily Fantasy Sports site DraftKings would not comment on their policy and internal controls related to “insider information”, while standing by an employee who won $350,000 at a competing site’s contest finishing second place.
The high ranking DraftKings employee has thus far been able to keep his job after inadvertently posting player ownership percentages prior to the start of that week’s NFL games. Access to such data clearly provides an unfair edge. His huge winnings have only driven home that point, though DraftKings insists he did not use said information to his advantage.
ESPN, which entered into a major sponsorship deal with DraftKings over the summer, began reporting on the incident from its home page Tuesday morning nearly 24 hours after the New York Times blew the story wide open.
"We operate based on the trust of our players," DraftKings representative Justine Sacco said. "This is not a new issue for us as a company or an industry, and maintaining the integrity of our contests and games is paramount to sustaining and growing our business."
Sacco would not elaborate further on current policies and controls – not even with the media outlet they now have a cozy partnership with - though the company says it has temporarily restricted employees from playing on competing sites.
“These companies standing by an employee and insisting he did nothing wrong without yet conducting a thorough investigation seems to only be adding more fuel to the fire,” commented Payton O’Brien, Senior Editor of both Gambling911.com and its sister site DFS911.com. “The folks who play on these sites aren’t necessarily buying that argument.”
- Aaron Goldstein, Gambling911.com
