This past Thursday, the City of Baltimore filed a lawsuit against both DraftKings and Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of sports betting giant FanDuel. The suit, filed in Maryland state court, alleges that the companies are in violation of the city’s Consumer Protection Ordinance through misleading promotions and leveraging data and analytics to keep problem gamblers continuously betting.[i]
At the center of the lawsuit, the city finds issue with the offering of bonus bets to people who sign up with either sportsbook. The betting wbesite require bettors to use bonus credits within seven days after receiving them, with the potential to encourage frequent betting immediately upon entry.[ii]
Even after receiving initial free bets, the users continue to receive numerous notifications from both sites.[iii] These notifications, whether it be text messages, emails, or push notifications, create “the false idea that users are obtaining ‘free bets,’ or otherwise taking on substantially less financial risk than they actually are.”[iv]
The lawsuit also expressed concern over how the sportsbooks use their users’ data to continue encouraging frequent users to continue betting. Citing a 2020 report from the United Kingdom’s House of Lords, which found that 5% of users on these sites produce 60% of their profits, the complaint alleges that through VIP programs these sites are able to consistently send frequent users various offers to encourage betting.[v] That same House of Lords report was also cited in the suit to encourage FanDuel and DraftKings to adopt extra protections for users under 25 that Flutter already has in place in the U.K.[vi]
While Baltimore is the first American city to challenge the sportsbooks about targeting problem gamblers,[vii] the sportsbooks have been the object of similar lawsuits that question their advertising practices. VIP programs are at the center of two other recent lawsuits, including a Pennsylvania psychiatrist who lost $153,000 in a four-month span after her VIP “host” offered various incentives to keep her betting.[viii] A similar lawsuit suit was filed in 2023 by a New Jersey woman who alleged that a similar program led to her husband depositing 440% of regular salary in 2023 alone.[ix]
States have also questioned other betting sites regarding their general advertising practices in other ways over the past decade. Massachusetts had a long back and forth with Penn Gaming as they rebranded into ESPNBet, questioning the integrity of the sports media giant’s news reporting while also offering viewers various gambling offers.[x] New York notably filed suit against both FanDuel and DraftKings in 2016 over their daily fantasy operations, with each company paying $6 million in penalties and fees to settle false advertising violations.[xi][HD1] As legalized gambling continues to expand, the need for regulations across the various states could receive more attention as these lawsuits continue.
[i] https://www.espn.com/espn/betting/story/_/id/44520842/baltimore-sues-draftkings-fanduel-alleging-misleading-tactics
[ii] Id.
[iii] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6256255/2025/04/04/baltimore-sues-fanduel-draftkings-promo-tactics-safeguards/
[iv] Id.
[v] https://frontofficesports.com/baltimore-sues-draftkings-fanduel-over-exploiting-gambling-addicts/
[vi] Id.
[vii] Id.
[viii] https://frontofficesports.com/lawsuit-says-draftkings-vip-program-preyed-on-gambling-addicts/
[ix] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2025/feb/15/draftkings-lawsuit-sports-betting-addiction
[x] https://www.telegram.com/story/news/local/2023/11/07/espn-bet-gambling-platform-raises-concern-in-massachusetts/71493673007/
[xi] https://www.consumerfinancialserviceslawmonitor.com/2016/11/draftkings-and-fanduel-settle-case-with-ny-a-g-for-12-million/
Image Credit: Visit Milwaukee
Leave a Reply