FanDuel permanently bans employees from playing daily fantasy for money

Daily fantasy sports site FanDuel announced Wednesday that it has permanently banned its employees from participating in any fantasy sports betting.

Daily fantasy sports site FanDuel announced Wednesday that it has permanently banned its employees from participating in any daily fantasy sports betting, according to Reuters.

FanDuel also banned employees of rival companies from playing fantasy games on its site. On Tuesday, FanDuel and DraftKings both announced a temporary ban of employee participation, but FanDuel made the ban permanent on Wednesday.

“We have permanently banned our employees from playing any daily fantasy games for money, on any site,” FanDuel said in a statement. “We will also require all customers to confirm that they are not an employee of any other third party fantasy site, and if they are, they will not be allowed to access our site.”

• New York attorney general opens inquiry into daily fantasy games

On Monday, The New York Times reported that DraftKings employee Ethan Haskell admitted to leaking information about the players most frequently used in fantasy lineups on the site during the NFL’s Week 3. The data Haskell released is made public by the site after lineups have been finalized, but it can give players an advantage if obtained ahead of time. That week, Haskell won $350,000 on FanDuel from a $25 entry.

The New York attorney general opened an inquiry into the matter on Tuesday, despite FanDuel saying there was no evidence that any employee misused information. The attorney general is requesting internal data on how both FanDuel and DraftKings prevent their employees from committing fraud.

In light of the controversy, ESPN removed sponsored fantasy segments from its programming on Tuesday, though it continued running related commercials. The network said it will monitor the situation day to day.

• MCCANN: In wake of allegations, a look at the legality of daily fantasy sports

- Erin Flynn