Florida attorney Jennifer Hoekstra filed 15 lawsuits against FanDuel and DraftKings. The lawsuits allege that gambling apps were designed to addict users. "any claim that we don't aggressively take actions to monitor and curb problem behavior is completely false," FanDuel said.

Hoekstra argues that gambling apps, like social media, are designed to addict their users. She alleges in her filings that notifications and bonus alerts create a persistent ambient presence in a gambler's life, inviting reengagement at moments of boredom, stress, financial anxiety, or emotional vulnerability.

"It's the same type of workflow, the same type of notifications. It's almost as if it's the same type of addiction," she said. "It's the dopamine hit."

She stated that she represents individuals who have suffered severe personal losses due to these platforms. "I represent individuals who have essentially lost their houses and their spouses and their kids over this," she said.

The legal strategy draws on precedents from other technology sectors. The lawsuits lean on a similar legal theory to a social media case adjudicated in California in March. In that case, plaintiff attorneys alleged social media companies led a young user down a path of mental health agitation.

A California jury found Meta and YouTube negligent and ordered them to pay damages of $4.2 million and $1.8 million respectively. The plaintiff in the California social media case was 17 when the case was filed in 2023.

She previously worked on the California social media case that led to a $6 million jury award against Meta and YouTube for negligent design of addictive platforms. She stated that the California case was novel because the legal team argued for the first time that the design of social media platforms was addictive and caused harm.

Louis Ruggiero is a podcaster and recovering gambling addict who lives in New York City. He lost $100,000 on FanDuel in three months. FanDuel offered Ruggiero VIP status after he lost $100,000. Two other gambling companies offered Ruggiero VIP status.

"From that moment forward, I wasn't just a customer, I was a target," Ruggiero said. "The incentives got bigger. The outreach got more personal. The losses got deeper." Ruggiero stated he was wagering tens of thousands of dollars on games at one point.

"I'm in the hospital holding my newborn son, who is three hours old, and I got $10,000 on the Knicks-Pelicans game," he said. "I couldn't stop." "That thing is engineered to keep you going," Ruggiero said. "Let's call it what it is: This is not 'VIP treatment.' This is predatory retention disguised as hospitality."

Esteban Ruiz-Haynes is a pest control salesman from Virginia. He became a VIP member with FanDuel after starting to wager on sports apps. Ruiz-Haynes bets between $80,000 and $120,000 a year with FanDuel.

He sometimes wagers his weekly paycheck on a single game. "I'm eating ramen noodles for the rest of the week," Ruiz-Haynes said.

As a VIP, Ruiz-Haynes received luxury perks. Ruiz-Haynes sat 20 feet from Alex Ovechkin at Washington Capitals games and walked the sidelines at Baltimore Ravens' stadium as a FanDuel VIP perk. He received gifts including a signed helmet from a Washington Commanders player and a signed jersey from an NFL Pro-Bowler.

Ruiz-Haynes has a FanDuel manager who texts him about upcoming sporting events and messages him on his birthday. Ruiz-Haynes described the manager as "Just another friend."

A former FanDuel employee provided insight into the company's internal operations. The former employee stated that the company uses data collection to detect if a gambler is betting within a normal range or if their activity is fading, and targets them with push notifications to reengage them. "Their data collection is among the best I've seen at any company I've worked at," the former employee said.

The former employee stated that some colleagues looked away when customers might be betting too much. "I had conversations with people where they would say, 'Well, we know what we should do, but … we don't want to slow them down from placing a bet,'" the former employee said. Regarding suspensions, the former employee noted, "It's less about cutting them off than slowing them down." The former employee added, "It's never forever."

FanDuel has about 18 million customers. The company said it invested $158 million on responsible gaming last year. FanDuel removed 5,700 people from the platform due to their gambling behavior last year. Sports gaming apps reward VIP bettors with luxury suite access, autographed jerseys, and unique fan experiences.

Why It Matters

The scale of the industry provides context for the legal challenge. The amount wagered on online sports gambling reached $167 billion last year, according to reports. Online sports gambling was legalized beyond Nevada in 2018.

A UCLA study found that bankruptcies and credit card delinquencies increased about 25% in states that legalized online sports gambling. A survey by the National Council on Problem Gambling found 8% of American adults, almost 20 million people, reported experiencing at least one indicator of problematic gambling behavior "many times" in the past year.

What's New

Jennifer Hoekstra previously worked on the California social media case that led to a $6 million jury award against Meta and YouTube for negligent design of addictive platforms. The lawsuits filed by Jennifer Hoekstra against FanDuel and DraftKings allege that the apps are designed to foster addiction through persistent, intrusive presence in users' lives, targeting them during moments of emotional or financial vulnerability. Louis Ruggiero, a podcaster and recovering gambling addict, lost $100,000 on FanDuel in three months and was offered VIP status by the company afterward.

Louis Ruggiero, a podcaster and recovering addict, was directly affected by DraftKings' VIP treatment, which included being offered VIP status after losing $100,000 in three months. Esteban Ruiz-Haynes, a Virginia pest control salesman, received luxury perks from FanDuel including a signed helmet from a Washington Commanders player and a signed jersey from an NFL Pro-Bowler.

How Sources Differ

Sources present different perspectives on the impact and regulation of online sports gambling.