Pennsylvania players have brought a lawsuit against DraftKings, placing the US-giants’ advertising and bonus practices under scrutiny.
Filed in the Eastern Pennsylvania District Court, the five plaintiffs argue that DraftKings’ promotion of “risk-free bets” combined with the “hidden and confusing terms” of its casino deposit match promotion leads to players placing a greater number of bets than initially intended, and in doing so, they “risk developing a dangerous gambling addiction”.
The suit claims that DraftKings is, among other allegations, legally negligent, violating Pennsylvania state consumer protection laws and practising intentional misrepresentation. The group is seeking damages for any qualifying members of the class.
66 hours of blackjack
The suit specifically highlighted a 2023 promotion that offered a $2,000 deposit match bonus offered at DraftKings casino. However, the playthrough requirement meant players would need to play through both the deposit amount and the bonus ten times each in order to maximise its value.
Additionally, the percentage users were credited on playthrough amounts also varied based on which game users played, with table games such as blackjack requiring a higher rate than something like slots.
As a result, the suit estimates that players would have to wager over $5,700 every day for a week in order to satisfy the $2,000 bonus playthrough requirement.
If a player chose to achieve the playthrough requirement via blackjack alone, the court estimates: “For a user to satisfy a $40,000 playthrough requirement playing just blackjack, they have to gamble a minimum of $200,000 in a seven-day timeframe.
“This means that, assuming a hand of blackjack takes [less than] 1 minute, a user betting $50 every hand would have to spend more than 66 hours in a 7-day period playing blackjack to satisfy the playthrough requirement. That amounts to almost ten hours of blackjack a day.”
The suit further accuses the promotion of instilling and exacerbating “compulsive gambling habits” in the plaintiffs. Additionally, it alleges that users unable to satisfy the playthrough requirements and opting out of the bonus program were at risk of losing both their bonus and initial deposit.
Similarly, it claims plaintiffs wagering on the DraftKings sportsbook could only earn an advertised $1,000 bonus at a rate of a $1 bonus for every $25 wagered. Therefore, to receive the $1,000, the new customer would have to risk $25,000 within 90 days.
Self-exclusion failures
Among those included in the lawsuit is a plaintiff who placed themselves on the Pennsylvania self-exclusion list in 2022 but said he was able to sign up to both DraftKings and Golden Nugget in 2024.
Additionally, another claimed he requested DraftKings to close his account in 2020 due to struggling to control his gambling activity, however, he had access to his account, which he allegedly used to lose more than $350,000, for another two years before it was suddenly closed in 2024 with the 2020 request cited.
He also said that he has $45,000 of unwagered funds in the now closed account that has yet to be returned to him.
Commenting on the behaviour of DraftKings’ VIP hosts, the suit claims that they are “incentivised to ignore even obvious signs of gambling addiction”.
It also alleges that DraftKings tracks when a user has opted into a self-exclusion period and then “heavily targets them with offers” once this period expires.
Legal hot water
This latest lawsuit is just one of a number of advertising-related legal activities that the US operator is facing.
Lawsuits have been filed with courts in Kentucky, Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts.
Earlier this month, the city of Baltimore filed a lawsuit against DraftKings as well as FanDuel, claiming the two big operators were choosing to prey on vulnerable players with gambling problems.
Most of the cases remain in their early stages, however, the suit in Massachusetts state court is moving forward after DraftKings’ motion to dismiss was denied.