A DraftKings fantasy sports player is suing Major League Baseball, MLB Advanced Media, the Houston Astros and the Red Sox over the recent sign-stealing scandal rocking the world of professional baseball, alleging the league ignored evidence of player cheating that tainted sports betting platforms. The plaintiff, Massachusetts resident Kristopher Olson, believes he wouldn't have placed at least 226 bets in DraftKings competitions since 2017 if he knew the teams were violating league rules, which may have skewed stats that determine the winners of DFS games. He is seeking unspecified monetary damages. The [suit claims](https://nypost.com/2020/01/23/draftkings-user-sues-mlb-over-astros-sign-stealing-scandal/) that from 2017 to 2019, “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.” MLB has partnerships with DraftKings and MGM Resorts through which the league provides those companies official data. The lawsuit claims the league encourages its fans to bet on games through its advertising of DraftKings on television, at team properties and across other media platforms. __2020 World Series odds:__ [Oddsmakers bullish on Astros despite scandal](https://www.betchicago.com/mlb-world-series-odds-season-win-totals-oddsmakers-bullish-astros) “What the electronic sign stealing did was essentially corrupt all of the player-performance statistics,” lead lawyer David Golub [told](https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/redsox/2020/01/27/mass-man-sues-mlb-behalf-draftkings-players-over-sign-stealing/TJm2J9pTl2dfaBCyHsQafL/story.html ) the Boston Globe. “You had MLB, the Astros, and the Red Sox, at the same time they were saying to the fans ‘bet your money on fantasy baseball,’ they were either deliberately corrupting the statistics or not taking steps to prevent the corruption of the statistics.” Golub presented the case against MLB and the two teams last Thursday. What's ironic to the sports betting world is for decades professional leagues opposed legalized betting on the primacy it would tarnish the integrity of the game, none more vehemently than MLB -- think the 1919 Black Sox scandal or Pete Rose ban. The assumption was outside forces, like bookies or some type of crime syndicate, could use money and power to influence game results and present dishonest competition, potentialy ruining the product. With MLB's embrace of betting and its new industry partnerships, there is added responsibility and incentive for the league to manage fairness and integrity internally, as implied by the lawsuit. This is particularly true in the Astros-Red Sox sign-stealing case, which MLB somewhat invited with the adoption of instant replay in 2014. The league permits video replay rooms at stadiums for teams to challenge calls on the field. Some abused the system. The lawsuit asserts MLB failed to act, or disclose to the gambling public, any potential cheating, despite rumors of video-assisted sign stealing for years. “It’s a little bit of the opposite — it’s the athletes who are cheating, but if MLB and all the other leagues don’t police the integrity of the game, then you’re going to have all kinds of problems with sports betting.” Boston College’s Carroll School of Management's Rich McGowan, a gambling scholar, opined. Readers can find the entire [52-page complaint](https://www.classaction.org/blog/major-league-baseball-red-sox-astros-hit-with-draftkings-players-class-action-lawsuit-over-sign-stealing-scandal) at classaction.org. __MORE:__ [Sports betting industry news](https://www.betchicago.com/betting-odds)