Steven Cohen  |  January 27, 2020

Category: Legal News

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MLBA class action lawsuit has been filed against Major League Baseball (MLB), the Houston Astros, and the Boston Red Sox by a fan who claims that the corrupt conduct of the two teams tainted the results of fantasy baseball leagues on DraftKings.

Kristopher R. Olson says he was an active DraftKings MLB Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) player and claims to have made 226 bets into the DraftKings contests during the class period of early 2017 and into the 2019 baseball season.

The Houston Astros leadership, with the help of the current Boston Red Sox manager who served as the Astro bench coach in 2017, allegedly used a camera recording system to steal the signs of opposing teams. The scheme reportedly allowed the Astros to cheat by interpreting signs between the opposing catcher and pitcher during the 2017 and 2018 baseball season.

Olson states that he would not have bet his money on DraftKings if he knew that the Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox were engaged in schemes to cheat during this time. In addition, he says he would not have entered bets on DraftKings if he had known that both teams were engaging in electronic sign stealing.

“Throughout this period, MLB was well aware that its member teams were engaging in corrupt and fraudulent conduct that rendered player performance statistics dishonest and undermined the validity of its fan wagers on DraftKings’ fantasy baseball contests,” the MLB class action lawsuit notes.

The plaintiff claims that the MLB did not investigate or deter the teams cheating at baseball and continued to encourage fan participation in DraftKings even though they knew that the fantasy baseball competitions were corrupt.

DraftKings reported more than $300 million in DFS fees and more than $30 million in revenue in 2014, according to the MLB class action lawsuit.

The class action lawsuit states that MLB had taken a financial stake in DraftKings and in 2015 took a further investment into the company and has been described as “the most comprehensive league partnership in daily fantasy sports history.” 

Also, DraftKings has partnered with 27 MLB teams, including the Astros and the Red Sox, states the MLB class action lawsuit.

“DraftKings’ and MLB’s aggressive marketing of MLB DFS baseball contests as a legal and fair competition has resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of contest fees being paid to DraftKings for MLB daily fantasy contests and tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars of annual revenue, all to the financial benefit of defendant MLB and its constituent teams including, in particular, the defendant Astros and the defendant Red Sox,” the plaintiff states.

The plaintiff notes that electronic sign stealing violates MLB’s prohibition of the practice and compromises the integrity and fairness of the DraftKings’ wagering contests. In addition, the sign stealing allegedly messes up the fantasy baseball player selection process.

“MLB did not take reasonable steps to investigate, deter, prevent, remedy or disclose to the wagering public the existence of such team and player misconduct,” the MLB class action lawsuit alleges.

Potential Class Members include individuals who participated in DraftKings’ MLB DFS contests between April 2, 2017 through Oct. 30, 2019.

Do you wager on baseball using DraftKings? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiff is represented by David S. Golub, Steven L. Bloch and Ian W. Sloss of Silver Golub & Teitell LLP.

The MLB Fantasy Sports Class Action Lawsuit is Olson v. Major League Baseball, et al., Case No. 1:20-cv-00632, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

UPDATE: On Feb. 21, 2020, Major League Baseball, the Houston Astros, and the Boston Red Sox asked for the dismissal of a class action lawsuit alleging that sign stealing hurt fantasy baseball league fans. 

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One thought on MLB Class Action Disputes Fantasy Baseball Fairness

  1. Darnell Steward says:

    I want to be a part of the baseball class action suit

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