@...@ A major scandal is erupting in the multibillion~dollar© industry of fantasy sports, the online and unregulated business in which players assemble their 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 using information not available to the public//
@...@ Last week, an employee at DraftKings, one of the two major companies, admitted to inadvertently releasing data before the start of the third week ©of N//F//L// games// The employee a midlevel content manager won $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, Fla// **It gives that person a distinct edge in a contest//**
@...@ The episode has raised questions about who at daily© fantasy companies has access to valuable data, such as which players a majority of the money is being bet on, how it is protected, and whether the industry can or wants to police itself//