FanDuel is increasingly investing in RG as it expands, as shown by its hiring of the former top executive of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
September is recognised as Responsible Gaming Education Month. US sports betting leader FanDuel celebrated the occasion by hiring one of the top longtime voices in the field as an RG strategic advisor.
On Wednesday the company announced the role will be filled by Keith Whyte, who served as executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling for over 25 years prior to his departure in January. Since then, and up to the FanDuel announcement, he has been consulting via his firm, Safer Gambling Strategies.
In the role, Whyte will “offer insights on the company’s Responsible Gaming strategy and programmes, including identifying new opportunities for advocacy and advancing partnerships, as well as leading and developing various events to further a culture of Responsible Gaming”, according to a company press release.
Whyte will also contribute to FanDuel’s Conversations About Betting educational programme. Designed in partnership with EPIC Global Solutions and ambassadors Randy Livingston and Anita Ondine Smith, the programme publishes various resources to educate young people about RG.
“We are honoured to have Keith Whyte join our team as a strategic advisor for our responsible gaming programming,” said Cory Fox, FanDuel’s senior vice president of public policy and sustainability. “At FanDuel, we are committed to elevating the industry standard for Responsible Gaming. We’re excited to welcome Keith to our Responsible Gaming team and are confident his experience and subject matter knowledge will further strengthen our leadership in this space.”
Whyte added that he is “thrilled to join the team and contribute my experience to further advancing FanDuel’s efforts in promoting safe and responsible play”.
Whyte to help RG efforts as FanDuel expands
Despite its market-leading position, FanDuel finds itself in the most competitive environment it has faced. Its top rival DraftKings has been on its heels and up-and-comers like Fanatics are rising as well. Grey-area offerings like DFS 2.0 and prediction markets also lurk in the background.
As such, the company is expanding in any way it can. In just the last month, FanDuel has announced:
- A prediction market deal with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange
- A new peer-to-peer fantasy sports offering
- A sports betting market access agreement for Missouri
This multifaceted expansion highlights the need for RG education and resources. The addition of Whyte, who has been at the forefront of discussions about emerging offerings, legislation and regulation, should bolster those efforts.
“I know this to be the case, that the industry can help develop great tools for prevention, education, all that. I’ve seen that arc in the legalised gambling industry,” Whyte told iGB in July in response to a question about industry expansion. “We can apply all those hard-won lessons over the decades to all the arguably not legal gambling avenues.
“Teaching this next generation of kids how to make more informed choices, how to think critically about the marketing of everything that’s gamified, has got to be the solution.”
Company has hired several industry figures
Whyte is not the first high-profile industry figure snapped up by FanDuel in recent years. In late 2023 and early 2024, the company made a slew of hires related to its tribal gaming efforts, particularly in California.
FanDuel was one of the principle backers of Proposition 27, a costly California mobile sports betting initiative that the state’s tribes fought and which resoundingly failed in the 2022 election. After that, the company hired Sequoyah Simermeyer, Rikki Tanenbaum and Frank Sizemore in short order.
Simermeyer previously served as chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission. Tennanbaum was president of gaming for the Stonarch Group, with previous experience with the powerful San Manuel tribe, which is where Sizemore also came from.
“It mattered to me to join a team where I could use my background as a former regulator, legislative staffer and public servant to Indian country,” Simermeyer said in a release at the time.
“FanDuel is the leader in mobile gaming and has helped shape the rise of the legalised and regulated marketplace in the US. Mobile gaming remains a very young and dynamic industry and I’m excited to help the team build out our capacity to work within Indian country nationally to take advantage of opportunities ahead.”
