The sports betting ecosystem has been in an uproar after FanDuel contributor Shams Charania reported that Scoot Henderson was "gaining serious momentum" as the No. 2 overall pick in Thursday's NBA Draft.
That didn't happen — Brandon Miller went to the Hornets with that pick — but Charania's tweet mere hours before the draft dramatically altered the betting market for the No. 2 overall pick.
Sources: Scoot Henderson is gaining serious momentum at No. 2 with the Charlotte Hornets in tonight’s NBA draft. Hornets have been torn over the last week between Henderson and Brandon Miller. Team has final meetings today to settle on decision.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 22, 2023
FanDuel had Henderson as long as +400 prior to the 12:28 p.m. tweet. In the minutes afterward, Henderson to go No. 2 overall fell to as steep a price as -900. Thousands of casual fans piled on the Henderson dollars on account of that one Charania tweet.
Conspiracists throughout the betting space have since cried afoul, alleging impropriety by Charania at behest of the sportsbook he partners with.
For their part, FanDuel said the company doesn't have advanced knowledge of any news Charania may break.
“FanDuel is not privy to any news that Shams breaks on his platforms,” a FanDuel spokesman told Action Network on Friday amidst the backlash.
While FanDuel of course pocketed money that bettors slapped on Henderson at terrible odds, they also left Miller's market dangling at +480 as a result.
The sportsbook wouldn't disclose P&Ls with Action Network, but generally, drafts are losing endeavors for sportsbooks as a whole — especially compared to traditional markets, where they're typically guaranteed to make a profit.
“I don’t think there is anything nefarious going on, but find it puzzling that a regulated sportsbook is allowed to take bets on the NBA Draft and also employ an ‘insider’ who can tweet nonsense that can move betting markets,” said former Mavericks executive Haralabos Voulgaris on Twitter.
There are presently no state or federal regulations to prevent the alleged conflict of interest. Ethically, partnerships between journalists, their publications and sportsbooks are fair game — so long as there's no deceit or corrupt cooperation in those agreements.
Requests for comment made to Charania and the NBA were not immediately returned.
As Thursday marched on, Charania's insight became weaker and weaker. Several other NBA insiders — including ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski — indicated that Miller had been the guy all along. Soon, Henderson was back to being the longshot. Miller closed at roughly -600 odds to go No. 2 overall.
After Miller was taken, Wojnarowski tweeted: “All along, the entire Charlotte Hornets organization has been all-in on Brandon Miller — ownership, front office, scouts, coaches.”
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