Yahoo, NHL Ban Employees from Paid Fantasy-Sports Sites--3rd Update
October 09 2015 - 3:58PM
Dow Jones News
By Lisa Beilfuss And Brian R. Fitzgerald
Yahoo Inc. and the National Hockey League have barred employees
from playing in paid fantasy-sports contests, moves that come amid
questions over whether workers at big fantasy-sports companies have
access to inside data.
Yahoo, a relative newcomer to paid fantasy sports, said Friday
that employees are no longer permitted to play paid, daily contests
on any site. Yahoo workers already were banned from playing on the
company's site.
The NHL said Friday that employees are banned from playing this
season, which started Wednesday.
The purveyors of the industry's biggest fantasy sites, FanDuel
Inc. and DraftKings Inc., came under fire this week after an
employee of one startup with access to inside data won big money on
the other's site. Both companies said they would permanently ban
employees from playing in daily fantasy contests for money, and
would enlist attorneys to review their processes.
Such sites run online contests in which people draft virtual
teams of professional athletes and compete against each other based
on the athletes' real-world performances.
The controversy began after a DraftKings employee recently said
on an online message board that he prematurely released data about
contestants' lineups. That same week, the employee won $350,000
playing in a top contest on FanDuel. DraftKings said the early leak
of data was an accident, and both companies said the data didn't
lead to the victory.
For Yahoo, the venture into paid fantasy sports is new. Seeking
to supplement its stagnant advertising business, the Internet
company in July said it would enter the legal online gambling
market with a new fantasy-sports mobile app.
The NHL is an investor in DraftKings as well as an exclusive
partner, and said this week it is monitoring the situation at the
company.
Separately, a class-action suit was brought on Thursday against
FanDuel and DraftKings, alleging the companies violate laws in
Kentucky, Massachusetts and New York. Representatives for FanDuel
and DraftKings declined to comment.
An estimated 56.8 million people in North America are playing
fantasy sports this year, the Fantasy Sports Trade Association said
this summer. They spend an average of $465 annually on these games,
the association said.
Brian R. Fitzgerald contributed to this article
Write to Lisa Beilfuss at lisa.beilfuss@wsj.com and Sharon
Terlep at sharon.terlep@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 09, 2015 15:43 ET (19:43 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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