PA Lawsuit Accuses FanDuel of Targeting Struggling Bettors

One resident active in the Pennsylvania sports betting market isn’t buying FanDuel’s commitment to responsible gambling.

Despite the high marks the platform often receives in a typical FanDuel Sportsbook review, Plaintiff Maurice Faulk has filed a lawsuit against FanDuel's parent company, Flutter Entertainment. It includes all of FanDuel’s gambling platforms, including its sportsbooks, casino, and prediction markets.

In it, he accuses the gambling operator of knowingly targeting struggling bettors to ensure they continue placing wagers. He also claims that FanDuel’s “risk-free bets” and similar promotions lead bettors not to fully understand the impact of gambling losses.

The filing also included some stunning information from a Gemini Research study from Connecticut, showing the impact of FanDuel’s practices.

In sports gambling, a small minority of gamblers drive the majority of profitability, the lawsuit reads. “The study found that less than 2% of Connecticut residents, considered to be “Problem Gamblers” (the percentage of Connecticut residents estimated to have a gambling problem), were responsible for 51% of the sports betting revenue in Connecticut.17 These findings not only demonstrate that a small minority of problematic gamblers drive Defendants’ profits: they evidence that Defendants’ profitability is a function of the most addicted, problem users.”

The plaintiff is asking the court to force FanDuel into a massive payment covering all of his gambling losses, physical harm suffered from his gambling addiction, pain and suffering, and lost earnings.

Dangers of VIP Program

One area the lawsuit covers is FanDuel’s VIP loyalty program. 

It references a 2017 study by Dr. Michael Wohl, who found that similar programs contain a disproportionate number of gamblers showing signs of addiction. He identified the program’s “special treatment” of losing bettors as helping to soften the pain of losses and subtly encourage them to keep wagering.

VIP programs also offer concierge services for their most active members. While advertised as a benefit, these VIP hosts have a history of pushing players to place bets when their activity drops. 

This was a central part of a notorious Florida case involving a former Jaguars employee who stole money from the team to fund his gambling. In his lawsuit against FanDuel, he alleged that he was contacted sometimes over 100 times per day with promos, bonus offers, and check-ins from VIP hosts. Unfortunately, his claims were largely overshadowed by his massive theft. 

Faulk doesn’t have the same criminal aspect to his case, giving hope that his accusations will carry more weight.