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A collage shows Fanduel signage during warms up before the game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Dallas Mavericks at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans alongside a picture of Bill Simmons
Either Bill Simmons is the world’s most naive human being, or he really, really has it out for his daughter’s 21-year-old boyfriend, Hank.
Simmons, as many of you have seen by now, is under fire for going on a live podcast and admitting to proxy betting via one of his show sponsors, FanDuel, which is very much prohibited.
As Simmons explained, he had multiple bets that he wanted to place. However, he could not do so in the state of California.
That’s where Hank comes in…
Bill Simmons Let His Daughter’s Boyfriend Be A Guinea Pig For Gambling Violations
“My daughter’s boyfriend, Hank, who’s a great kid, turned 21 this summer, as did my daughter,” Simmons said on the show. “And there was a couple bets that I really wanted to get in, the UCLA overs, but Houston, the market had not shifted appropriately yet. I can’t have my daughter do it, my dad would have no idea how to do it. But Hank, I trust Hank.
“I let Hank log into my FanDuel as me, [sent] the code to make sure it’s me to my phone, I give him the code, he logs in. And I have all this money that I had from last year because I actually hit a bunch of futures last year. And he’s putting in bets for me, and honestly it’s the closest I’ve ever felt to Hank. Real bonding moment for us.
“A week later, I called him up, ran it back. We did some more.”
This Could Land Hank In A Lot Of Trouble
There’s just one big problem with Simmons’ story. The actions he described, having Hank act as a proxy bettor on his behalf to place bets that he couldn’t otherwise, aren’t just frowned upon; they are expressly prohibited.
Simmons and his son’s boyfriend could have their accounts banned and could lose all of their winnings according to FanDuel’s terms and conditions. Additionally, Massachusetts law states that any accomplice to proxy betting should be banned from using FanDuel moving forward.
FanDuel isn’t likely to punish Simmons, given it’s a major advertising partner of The Ringer? But ol’ Hank here may be in trouble.
We’re not stating for certain that Bill Simmons had it out for his daughter’s boyfriend from the start. But he certainly seemed to chuck him under the bus with this one.