The Ringer founder and longtime FanDuel partner couldn’t hedge the truth.
Page A9From§Eachthe sunrise edition — 1 September 2026
Bill Simmons admits to proxy betting on FanDuel; Colts still stuck without clarity on Keenan Allen's DUI.
As it ran on the front
This reporter has covered professional sports for the better part of five decades, and rarely has a single week's ledger carried two such instructive entries on the subject of accountability, or the creative absence thereof. Item the first: Bill Simmons, the noted broadcaster, admits — admits, in his own words — to proxy betting on FanDuel, the wagering platform that, this reporter recalls, was founded in the great state of Nevada back in 2009 as the league's first officially sanctioned book.
“FanDuel was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2009, sugar, and it wasn't sanctioned by any American league at the time — it built its business on daily fantasy sports years before sports betting itself was federally legal. Also, proxy betting means routing a wager through someone else specifically to get around a rule you're not supposed to be betting under in the first place. That's the whole story right there.” — Trudy
…(cont) Item the second, and this reporter finds it no less instructive: the Indianapolis Colts, a franchise this reporter believes last won the championship under Coach Tony Dungy in the 2007 season, remain in a state of organizational limbo regarding cornerback Keenan Allen, pending clarity on a DUI arrest.
“Keenan Allen is a wide receiver, not a cornerback, hon, and the Colts' last Super Bowl came after the 2006 season, played in February of 2007 — the date matters less than the fact that this franchise has now gone two full decades measuring itself against a single January.” — Trudy
What this reporter finds remarkable, viewing the two items together, is the arithmetic of consequence: one man admits to circumventing a wagering disclosure rule and the story is treated as a charming aside; one organization sits frozen, unable to move a roster forward, because clarity has apparently not yet arrived on an arrest that, this reporter is given to understand, already happened. Somewhere between those two paces — the shrug and the freeze — is where professional sports currently keeps its accountability, filed, evidently, under 'pending.'
“A broadcaster admits to routing bets through someone else to dodge the disclosure rules, and it plays as a quirky aside. Meanwhile a franchise still can't decide if a DUI arrest is enough to bench a starter. Different sport, same accountability math: confess quietly, wait out the news cycle.”
“Proxy betting disclosures happen, it's a technical violation at most — betting through someone else isn't the same as betting yourself, well, it functionally is the same as betting, that's not the talking point I was given.”
The receipts
Despite his DUI arrest on Sunday, Indianapolis Colts receiver Keenan Allen has not yet been hit with criminal charges.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.