‘Ridiculous’ Decision Could Harm Fidelity
Jeffrey Thomas, CEO of World Fantasy Games (owner of FantasySportsBusiness.com), is a 17-year veteran of the fantasy sports industry. Here’s what he had to say about Fidelity firing four employees for running fantasy football leagues:
This situation and decision by Fidelity is ridiculous on many levels. I think the executives that made the call should be personally terminated for creating a huge future lawsuit risk for Fidelity itself, for very poor research and very poor decision-making.
First, playing in a fantasy sports league is not gambling. Most of the time there is no money involved at all, so it can’t be gambling. And other times, leagues only pay a fee for software services to operate the league.
Second, if they had a fun $20 side pool between league members, this is personal and not managed by a fantasy company. Fantasy football is not gambling when it is managed by experienced, compliant companies in our industry. Could these individuals have been gambling by wagering $20 between friends? What’s your call? I hope nobody, in this company of thousands of employees, filled out a March Madness pool last year and I hope nobody ever made a copy of a March Madness bracket on a company copy machine … and I hope nobody sent an email with a bracket attached to it or a link imbedded. And did they buy any squares at Super Bowl time? I’m sure e-mail archives from last February or March could shed light on this. For clarification to Fidelity and others … the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 states that money spent on fantasy sports is not a bet or a wager.
Third, the information published to date states that the individuals involved did not receive e-mails at work. A league member sent him an instant message? Did he read this while taking a restroom break, or was it during a strategic planning meeting? Does it matter? Reading a message from a friend is not playing fantasy football. Was he managing his team at work? Playing fantasy football is managing your team — starting players, benching players, watching live scoring, negotiating trades, studying free agent moves, etc. Sending an instant message is not playing fantasy football. He was communicating with a friend.
Fourth, on a similar note, did other employees receive texts that day from friends or family members? Did they use the phone for personal phone calls? What is the real issue here? Communication occurs every day between employees and friends while at the work place. It should be limited, but it’s not grounds for termination.
Fifth, the individual involved stated that several other company employees play in fantasy leagues. Why single out these four? For an instant message? Corporate hypocrisy at its best can get corporate decision-makers and their employer in a lot of trouble.
That’s my top five, but there are plenty of other issues with the terminations. Based on the incredibly ignorant termination decision, I hope the employees will be filing a significant lawsuit in the coming weeks.
Tags: fantasy football, fantasy sports, fantasy sports business, fantasy sports industry, fidelity, jeff thomas, uigea, world fantasy games
