Danny Funt

Author, EVERYBODY LOSES (Jan '26), out now.

Reporting in @washingtonpost, etc.
dannyfunt1 at gmail dot com

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

I wrote EVERYBODY LOSES (out today!) because I believe sports fans—and really all Americans—deserve answers to basic questions that the people behind the betting boom have largely avoided.

I was optimistic that I’d get to speak with sportsbook execs and league commissioners. But I was determined to shed light on how this industry really works, and how it thinks about customers, regardless.

A reporting trip to New York is illustrative of what ended up happening. One of the first people I met that week was Chris Jones, then VP of communications at FanDuel. I assumed we were meeting to plan various interviews that he’d help arrange. But over the next 45 minutes, Jones explained why FanDuel would not be participating in my book. (He asked that I not share his reasons.)

Afterward, I hustled across town to meet Nik Bonaddio, the former head of product at FanDuel. He was surprisingly reflective about his time there, conceding how “shitty” it was to offer misleading “risk-free” promotions and how he suspects that the vast majority of customers fail to understand that the house edge is considerably bigger on parlays, sportsbooks’ biggest moneymaker.

Two days later, I took the train to the commuter town of Mamaroneck, home of Nigel Eccles, FanDuel's founding CEO. He, too, spoke expansively, expressing dismay about the trajectory of the sports betting industry. “I think their advertising is untruthful,” he said of sportsbooks in the U.S., including his former company. “They’re selling that you can win, but you can’t.”

Toward the end of my trip, I met with Jessica Leeser, who had served as FanDuel’s director of brand and marketing insights. She shared revealing takeaways from internal customer surveys. For example, many of FanDuel’s customers said they were disinclined to recommend the app—not because they didn’t like the user experience, but because they were reluctant to admit they gamble. “Maybe there is some shame attached to it,” Leeser said, “or some embarrassment.”

Over the ensuing months, I spoke with many other former and active employees at FanDuel, as well as at all the other top sportsbooks. (DraftKings was similarly uncooperative. I wasn’t even granted an interview with the person appointed, to much fanfare, as the industry’s first chief responsible gaming officer.)

There are, to be sure, many people in the betting industry who insist sports gambling is perfectly safe and that customers are treated fairly. But the overall impression I gathered from interviewing more than 300 people is that sportsbooks are brazenly taking advantage of customers, and, in some cases, outright endangering them.

A cautionary note from a former sportsbook executive sums that up. “You can make good money,” he told me, “but you don’t feel good about it, that’s for sure.”

Americans have been cheated out of the sort of robust national debate that legalizing sports betting across the country would seem to warrant. I hope "EVERYBODY LOSES: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling" forces people to engage in that conversation, including those who would prefer this book come and go quietly.

I could use your help. Anything you can do to spread the word is hugely appreciated. The link to the book is below 👇

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

Thank God for Inside the NBA because how could you go to sleep right now?!

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

I discussed the Brendan Sorsby ruling on @NewsHour. I don't think it's quite as one-sided as some suggest (especially the programs that play Texas Tech).

What's most distressing is seeing so many cry "BS" about him being addicted to gambling.

https://t.co/qkGPmQsCrj

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

@LoewyLawFirm thanks so much, Adam. Please let me know what you think.

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

@MattHayesCFB Hi, Matt. You wrote "an attorney argued a gambling addiction was a mental disorder, of all things." I want to be sure I understand: Do you believe a gambling addiction is not a mental disorder?

[sean yoo @SeanYoo]

shutting down midtown and making life hell for die hard knicks fans just for him to sleep at the game

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

@_PatrickCurran He crushed it on the whole

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

Watching @djkhaled courtside on his phone all game is killing me

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

@TommyBeer This feels like such overkill. Does the Secret Service shut down 10 square Manhattan blocks for hours every time Trump goes to Trump Tower or the UN?

[Tommy Beer @TommyBeer]

NYPD announces that, starting at 4pm today:

“Vehicular and pedestrian traffic will be closed from West 30th Street to West 35th Street between 6th Avenue and 8th Avenue.

No one will be allowed inside the secure area unless you have a ticket to the game, a train ticket, are going to a business inside the area, have credentials, or have some other authorized reason to be there.”

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

@cspan founder Brian Lamb grilled me about my book EVERYBODY LOSES, plus some totally unexpected stuff, like a piece I wrote about Nick Kristof running for governor of Oregon and being distressingly hostile toward reporters. Check it out!

https://t.co/ke4ehg1lLE

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

I don’t know why Wemby would ever need to shoot a fadeaway 3

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

https://t.co/l3Yjzysp15

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

I’ll be speaking with David Bockino about his engrossing new history of American sports betting, “OVER/UNDER,” at 7 tonight at @ParkRoadBooks. Charlotte friends, come through!

[Pegasus Books @Pegasus_Books]

We are thrilled to share that OVER/UNDER by David Bockino was included in @AARP's Summer Book Preview! Check it out: https://t.co/xy1N2BDwdY

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

I saw Jay-Z go 0-82 on 82-0. He acted as though it was gravvy.

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

“Mitch Johnson says Dylan Harper is as talented a guard as any he’s ever been around.”

Due respect to Mitch but I needed ABC to show a graphic listing the guards he’s been around. Have no idea.

[kang @jaycaspiankang]

my upcoming book about panicking parents, youth sports, schools, safetyism, and technology now has a page and a cover.

The book is a confession/convo about being a crazy sports dad, myself, and how parenting got so intensely privatized.

https://t.co/XqeTgjN1qC

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

@jaycaspiankang Awesome. Congrats!

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

Crazy that Chris Paul started every game last season for this Spurs team

[Danny Funt @dannyfunt]

Atkinson here reminds me of when Dame Lilliard hit a series walkoff in Paul George’s face and PG replied “it was a bad shot”

https://t.co/QDWEkyUppQ