Bill Simmons has said he has allowed someone else to place sports bets on his behalf, but don’t expect the podcast star to get more than a slap on the wrist.
Simmons, who manages Spotify’s podcast strategy, said on his show Sunday that he enlisted his daughter’s friend to log into his account and place NFL futures bets for him.
The problem is that Simmons lives in California, where online sports betting is illegal, and his daughter’s boyfriend lives in Massachusetts, where it is legal. So-called “proxy betting” is illegal under Massachusetts state law.
Simmons’ bets have caused a stir, especially since he said they were placed on the online sportsbook FanDuel, which has major sponsorship deals with Spotify and The Ringer, the sports and culture site Simmons started.
However, legal experts say that the Spotify CEO probably won’t have too many problems.
Simmons is “an unlikely candidate” for aggressive civil penalties, even if that seems to be the case violated online gaming laws in Massachusetts, said Mark Gottlieb, a law professor at Northeastern University in Boston.
Simmons may receive a ‘good faith determination’
Under Massachusetts law, sportsbooks can only accept bets from people who are 21 years of age or older and physically present in the state. Sportsbooks may not allow customers to have more than one account or place bets on behalf of someone else.
If sportsbooks discover that users have multiple accounts, including through a proxy, the law says they will “implement procedures to terminate all accounts” associated with them.
Sportsbooks can make exceptions if they investigate the account and “determine in good faith” that the violator’s conduct “was not intended to obtain a competitive advantage,” according to Massachusetts Gaming Commission rules.
Richard McGowan, an associate professor at Boston College who studies gambling, said he would be “really surprised” if Simmons received any punishment other than a one-month suspension from FanDuel.
A FanDuel spokesperson said the company was “aware of the issue” and handled it according to terms, which meant reporting it to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and voiding bets.
Sportsbooks such as FanDuel may also suspend or close an account at their sole discretion for serious or repeated violations of their terms.
A spokesperson for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission said they are “aware of the comments on the Bill Simmons Podcast” and that “staff are currently reviewing the matter,” but declined to share details.
Simmons put himself in ‘a very difficult spot’
Gottlieb said proxy betting is so common that Simmons may not have realized he could be breaking the law. Simmons said on his show Tuesday that he was “not aware of the proxy rules” but that he “has learned.”
However, not knowing is not a bulletproof defense.
“The law assumes people know the law even if they don’t,” said Jeffrey Eilender, civil litigation partner at New York-based Schlam Stone & Dolan LLP.
While FanDuel may refuse to drop the hammer on Simmons, who regularly promotes the sportsbook to its audience, this incident could be a wake-up call in the fast-changing world of sports betting.
“It puts FanDuel and Bill Simmons in a very difficult situation,” Gottlieb said. “He shouldn’t have done this in the first place, and he shouldn’t have announced it.”
