Bill Simmons Admits Proxy Betting on Recent Podcast
Bill Simmons included his daughter's boyfriend in illegal bets in Massachusetts, risking legal issues. Matt Perrault discusses the potential implications.
Video Transcript
Yesterday on his podcast, I guess on Sunday I should say, on his podcast, Bill Simmons admitted to giving his daughter's boyfriend bets to place in Massachusetts on his behalf.
Ringer founder Bence, Bill Simmons, according to our guy Jeff Edelstein from ingame.com, who has a long-standing sportsbook partnership, seemed hesitant at first to tell the story.
Quote, "I had to make some moves to be able to get these Houston Texans bets in a month ago that I don't wanna talk about," Simmons said with Cousin Sal.
Quote, "I love this.
Please talk about it," Simmons' friend Joe House repeating, "He made some moves."
Simmons paused for about four seconds, looked up and away at the camera and then said, "I'm gonna talk about it."
He then explained in detail with clarity how he, in California, teamed up with his daughter's boyfriend in Massachusetts to get down on UCLA and Texans futures.
The problem with this is that the Massachusetts law with Massachusetts regulators are nothing to play with.
They're pretty darn specific.
Books in Massachusetts to prevent, quote, "persons from placing wagers as agents or proxies for others," and if caught, the regulations classify anyone placing a wager as a proxy for another person as a prohibited person, meaning Simmons' daughter's boyfriend should now be banned from FanDuel.
It also demands the operator cancel the wager and confiscate the cash.
And because Simmons said he gave another person access to his FanDuel account, something FanDuel's terms expressly prohibit, Mass regulations state that his account shall be suspended in the state if FanDuel has evidence of that term, terms of service violation.
Now, is this a big deal?
Is this a big problem?
No.
No, this is not a big deal.
Have we who are in all of these things Yes, have we all had situations where you gotta do some stuff to get odds that might be better than what book you have access to?
Yes.
Okay?
Is that proxy betting?
Yes.
But shut up, Bill.
You can't do this.
You gave them all the evidence.
You have a FanDuel situation.
You explain not, "Hey, I had some guy do this."
He explained that it was his daughter's boyfriend, his daughter just turned 21.
H- his daughter's boyfriend just turned 21.
He's a good guy from a good family, and they like the kid a lot, and so he called the kid and said, "Hey, I need you to help me get down on this, so go ahead and put this bet in for me."
Without thinking about what you're saying publicly because you're trying to do what?
Entice other people with FanDuel accounts to do the same thing?
Like, that doesn't make any sense.
So you have to be smarter than this.
You have to just be more intelligent about the platform you're talking on.
You're talking on Netflix, you're talking on The Ringer, and you are a public figure, and people are going to pay attention to what you're saying, in particular when you talk about a gambling violation with a 21-year-old, okay?
This is a 21-year-old who you turned into a proxy with how much money did you bet, Bill?
I think people are gonna wanna know something.
Hey, Bill, how much money did you get down on that?
And then what do you do with it because you're gonna lose the money 'cause FanDuel, according to Mass state law, will confiscate it.
And the reason why they're gonna con- they're gonna confiscate it is because of the fact that they now know you did it.
You have admitted to doing it, and Massachusetts is not to be played with, okay?
The gaming control board, Nevada has the most aggressive, New Jersey's number two, but Mass would come in number three in the country for aggressive gaming control boards with enforcement.
They don't play around.
