Massachusetts orders FanDuel hearing over Bill Simmons proxy bets

FanDuel will face an adjudicatory hearing before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which voted unanimously on Thursday, over proxy wagers that Bill Simmons, founder of The Ringer, discussed on his own podcast.

The Hollywood Reporter reported that Simmons used his August 30 episode to explain that a bettor - his daughter's boyfriend - accessed his FanDuel account from within Massachusetts and wagered for him while he himself was located in California, a state where betting online on sport remains unlawful.

According to a memo from the Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, FanDuel disclosed 22 wagers totalling $21,800 across three separate dates - August 5, 7 and 19 - and the bureau is now examining whether state gambling regulations were broken.

"IEB will be digging in on all facets of this and making determinations as the facts guide us," Senior Enforcement Counsel Zak Mercer told commissioners at Thursday's meeting.

FanDuel, which holds exclusive betting-partner status with The Ringer, cancelled the wagers, flagged the episode to regulators and took action against the account after Simmons's on-air admission. Simmons subsequently told his audience that he had been unaware of the restrictions on proxy betting, saying he had "learned my lesson."

Commissioners made clear the hearing will scrutinise the operator's conduct rather than Simmons's. "I actually want to know how they were handling it," said Chair Jordan Maynard. "I would like to hear from the operator and see how we feel going forward. I'm more interested in how the operator let this happen and the action they took after it was public."

Commissioner Eileen O'Brien, who pushed for the hearing, said the issue reaches well beyond a single high-profile account. "One of the huge issues that we've had, especially with youth and college-age people betting, has to do with proxy betting," O'Brien said. "And I've been a little disturbed by the lack of full appreciation, I think, in general to the fact that it's illegal."

She added that the case gives the commission a chance to push an operator toward a closer examination of the practice. "To me, this is not singling someone out, but this is the first one we sort of had openly referred to us as a possibility. I think it is an opportunity to have an operator do a deeper dive as well into proxy betting."

Massachusetts rules require licensed operators to prevent customers from wagering as agents or proxies for others. Anyone who places a proxy bet is classed as a "prohibited person," and operators are required to block that individual and confiscate any funds tied to the wagers.

The commission also reviewed three other sportsbook compliance matters flagged by the bureau. Fanatics ran a refer-a-friend promotion on March 27 that 71 Massachusetts users exploited to send 102 referral links, a format the commission's rules do not permit.

BetMGM accepted 109 wagers from 56 accounts in states where it holds no licence on October 23, 2025, along with 17 wagers from nine accounts in other licensed states. A further 190 wagers came from 25 Massachusetts accounts that should have been blocked over device modification or software issues.

Fanatics was separately found to have failed to notify 132 patrons between July 29 and September 7 after limiting their betting activity.

The bureau's agenda also included penalty recommendations against Caesars Sportsbook for taking wagers on unauthorised events, one involving a Massachusetts college team and another tied to an unapproved offering at MGM Springfield.