DraftKings and FanDuel ‘Knowingly Misled Millions’ Over Chances of Winning at DFS, Claims Lawsuit
Posted on: April 22, 2020, 03:25h.
Last updated on: April 22, 2020, 04:20h.
DraftKings and FanDuel should be held liable to reimburse customers who lost money playing daily fantasy sports contests because the two companies encouraged casual players to lose to profitable players. At least, that’s according to a group of plaintiffs attempting to claw back money lost by family members on the sites.
This is the latest chapter in a case that began in 2016, when several consumer claims against DraftKings and FanDuel were consolidated into a federal lawsuit before the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts.
That was a year in which DraftKings and FanDuel spent millions defending the legality of DFS contests on multiple fronts. The most notable case was in New York State, where then state AG Eric Schneiderman threatened the companies with $3 billion in fines.
Schneiderman accused them of operating illegal gambling and of committing “repeated and persistent fraudulent acts” in respect to their marketing, forcing them to shut down operations temporarily in New York.
Clawback Laws
In the Massachusetts class-action case, plaintiffs claimed that the defendants “knowingly misled millions of people” in the advertising of DFS products by claiming that anyone could win.
One study published in 2015 in Sports Business Journal suggested that in the long term, 1.3 percent of DFS players win 91 percent of the profits.
Defendants thus attracted innocent consumers by knowingly making these false promises and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to ensure it would reach as many consumers as possible,” the lawsuit claims.
The plaintiffs — spouses or parents of those who lost money — are pursuing the DFS sites under the Family Gambling or Lost Recovery Acts (LRA) of their respective states, namely South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, New Mexico, and Tennessee.
While some elements of these antiquated statutes vary from state-to-state, they share a common origin and purpose: to prevent gamblers and their families from becoming destitute due to gambling losses, and to provide recourse for relatives to recover lost money from the winner.
DFS Sites Not ‘Winners’
In a motion to dismiss the case filed last month, DraftKings and FanDuel argued the plaintiffs’ claims had been improperly bought because the companies themselves were not the “winners” in the contests, but the organizers who took a small fee for their services.
But in their response, filed April 20, the plaintiffs argued that not all states with LRAs specify that recovery can only be had from the “winner.”
They also allege that the defendants’ “deceptive business practices” were intended to favor long-term winning players at the expense of recreational players. Controversially, the plaintiffs imply that DraftKings and FanDuel somehow colluded with winning players to profit “off the failing and losses of others.”
The filing asserts that public policy considerations should “still necessitate that Defendants be held liable for their immoral and illegal misconduct.”
“Snubbing their noses at this public policy, Defendants supported and encouraged this harmful vice, and profited off the failing and losses of others,” it claims.
DraftKings and Fanduel are expected to respond to these assertions in due course.
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Last Comments ( 9 )
Think about it, they are bookies, if they are having a bad week why not create a winning 1 million dollar winning entry to balance the books for the week. Are you telling me for sure they don’t?
I was a VIP player on their site. I experienced hundreds of technical errors but remained loyal to the site. After submitting these errors to the Division of Gaming Enforcement in my state to open an investigation, I received a notice from DraftKings that my account was permanently suspended for violating safe and responsible game play. Their actions were clearly in retaliation to my investigation or they knew I was experiencing technical errors, resulting in significant losses and did nothing about it. I never received a single warning or complaint regarding safe and responsible gameplay, as I never did anything wrong and never adjust the time or limits spent on my account. The DraftKings platform is complete fraud.
These bastards are scam artists. They are inserting lineups,after the contest starts. Theres no way hundreds of people are getting the maximum fantasy points every night in basketball. Just to think I defended these scum when they were on the brink of being banned. And I had a big voice in that.
Well One person wins tonight. Came out of nowhere. Steveomerc. Yea right. Fucking cheating site. Won at the very end. Imagine that!
While it is arguably possible that the creators of these sites have the ability to submit lineups after the contests have started, you also have to remember the amount of "players" in these contests. For instance, if you submit one lineup in a contest with 20K people your odds of hitting aren't as high as the guy who submits 15-20 lineups, common sense. I have hit a few nice licks, but only on the "single entry" contests. My advice, change your angle or dont play at all. You can't expect to gamble then want your money back when you lose.
These crybabies just suck at gambling. Adjust your sails
Lucas I’m with ya .. we can start a petition and have FanDuel / draft kings players sign saying how they have never won money . Also on their casino . Email me @ goodfellowdc@yahoo
They cheat you out of money fraud cheat scam and they don't get prison time but if we did all that we would be in prison doing time but a big company like that gets nothing done to them because they are still up and running witch is garbage they should be taking down. FANDUEL & DRAFTKING SHOULD BE TAKING DOWN THEM FUCKING CHEATS
I played on Draftking and played fanduel since 2014 and I thought yes I could win but after all this time I see the scamming going on because there is no way I am always fighting from bottom and staying at bottom while they always have the best lineup. Well I tried twice now to get help to get my money refunded but nothing. One lawyer I gave my fanduel and draftking account records but he never got back to me. I am so frustrated because I can't find help anywhere.