KEY TAKEAWAYS
- The Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted Thursday to call FanDuel to an adjudicatory hearing over proxy wagers Bill Simmons admitted to on his podcast.
- FanDuel reported 22 wagers totaling $21,800 placed through Simmons’s account over three days in August by an acquaintance in Massachusetts.
- Commissioners want to know how FanDuel allowed the bets and how it responded, not just what Simmons did.
Massachusetts regulators want FanDuel to explain how Bill Simmons placed proxy bets, and how the operator handled it once it was uncovered.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday agreed unanimously to hold an adjudicatory hearing with FanDuel over proxy wagers that Simmons, founder of The Ringer, described on his August 30 podcast.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Simmons said on his podcast that his daughter’s boyfriend logged into his FanDuel account in Massachusetts and placed bets for him while Simmons was in California, where online sports betting is not legal.
An Investigations and Enforcement Bureau (IEB) memo said FanDuel self-reported 22 wagers with a total handle of $21,800, placed on August 5, August 7 and August 19. The IEB is reviewing possible violations of the state’s gambling rules.
“IEB will be digging in on all facets of this and making determinations as the facts guide us,” Senior Enforcement Counsel Zak Mercer told the MGC at its meeting Thursday.
Regulators shift focus to FanDuel
FanDuel, The Ringer’s exclusive betting partner, voided the bets, reported the matter to the commission and “actioned” the account after Simmons spoke on air. Simmons later told listeners he did not know the proxy rules and “learned my lesson.”
Commissioners made clear that the hearing will look at FanDuel’s conduct on the situation, not just Simmons.
“I actually want to know how they were handling it,” Chair Jordan Maynard said. “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 pushed for the hearing and said proxy betting goes well beyond one celebrity.
“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.
“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 law requires operators to stop people from betting as agents or proxies for others. State rules also treat the person placing a proxy bet as a “prohibited person.” Operators must block that person and confiscate funds from the wagers.
Commission reviews other sportsbook compliance issues
The IEB also briefed commissioners on three other sports betting compliance matters:
- Fanatics, refer-a-friend: On March 27, 71 Massachusetts users used a refer-a-friend promotion and sent 102 links, a program MGC rules does not allow.
- BetMGM, geolocation: On Oct. 23, 2025, BetMGM accepted 109 wagers from 56 accounts in states where it does not hold a license. It also took 17 wagers from nine accounts in other licensed states. Another 190 wagers came from 25 Massachusetts accounts that should have been blocked for device modification or software reasons.
- Fanatics, limit notifications: Between July 29 and Sept. 7, Fanatics did not notify 132 patrons whose betting it limited.
The agenda also included IEB penalty recommendations for two Caesars Sportsbook cases on unauthorized events: one involving a Massachusetts college team and one for an unapproved offering at MGM Springfield.
