FanDuel Ads Use Georgia Tech Football Players' Images Without Permission Or Compensation [UPDATE]

As if daily fantasy sites weren’t loathsome and exploitative enough, we learned last week that FanDuel has, for weeks, been using an image of former Georgia Tech football stars Roddy Jones and Jason Peters without their knowledge, their compensation, or permission from Georgia Tech’s athletic department.

The image, which appears in numerous FanDuel ads, was lifted straight from the 2011 Yellow Jackets football schedule calendar:

Here’s the photo as it appears in a few other FanDuel spots:

Georgia Tech tells us they provided no permission to FanDuel to use the image, and that their lawyers are looking into it. Roddy Jones, through a spokesperson, tells us he only found out about the ads last week and that he hasn’t been compensated for his image being used by the crypto-gambling outfit.

Daily fantasy sites are now facing Congressional scrutiny and, despite protests from DraftKings and FanDuel, the NCAA wants to consider them gambling (which, of course, is exactly what they are). Surely FanDuel could have taken some of their apparently limitless promotional budget and paid for a stock image rather than aggravate people even further.

Update (12:47 p.m.): Summit Athletic Media, which designed the poster used by FanDuel in the ads, says they weren’t contacted either and “are just as surprised as anyone” to see their work appear in an ad for daily fantasy.

h/t to Emily

To contact the author of this post, write to tim@deadspin.com ( PGP key) or find him on Twitter @bubbaprog.