Scandal erupting in world of fantasy sports

New York

A MAJOR scandal is erupting in the multibillion-dollar industry of fantasy sports, the online and unregulated business in which players assemble fantasy teams with real athletes. On Monday, the two major fantasy companies were forced to release statements defending their businesses' integrity after what amounted to allegations of insider trading, that employees were placing bets on information not generally available to the public.

The statements were released after an employee at the fantasy betting site DraftKings, one of the two major companies, last week admitted to inadvertently releasing data before the start of the third week of NFL games. The employee - a mid-level content manager - won US$350,000 at a rival site, FanDuel, that same week. "It is absolutely akin to insider trading," said Daniel Wallach, a sports and gambling lawyer at Becker & Poliakoff in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. "It gives that person a distinct edge in a contest."