Online Gambling Addiction Lawsuit

The allegations against these platforms center on systematic exploitation enabled by data analytics.

Companies track loss-chasing behavior, late-night login patterns, deposit frequency, and reaction to promotional offers to create detailed user profiles.

Rather than using this information to protect vulnerable users – as responsible gambling principles require – lawsuits allege platforms weaponize the data to identify their most profitable customers: those with problem gambling behaviors.

DraftKings’ VIP program, called “Dynasty Rewards,” assigns personal account managers to high-value users who demonstrate the spending patterns characteristic of addiction.

These hosts provide opulent gifts including luxury vacations, high-end electronics, and exclusive event access.

The following online sportsbooks are currently under legal action and regulatory scrutiny:

• DraftKings: Accused of operating VIP programs that target known addicts with personalized incentives, settling with a New Jersey family in July 2025 after the father lost nearly $1 million stolen from family bank accounts, and facing lawsuits from Dr. Kavita Fischer who lost over $150,000 in four months despite repeatedly signaling addiction
• FanDuel (Flutter Entertainment): Defending against claims in California that daily fantasy sports contests violate state gambling laws, facing allegations from former Jacksonville Jaguars employee Amit Patel who embezzled nearly $20 million while FanDuel allegedly provided luxury incentives, and named in the Baltimore municipal lawsuit for exploiting vulnerable users
• Caesars Sportsbook: Facing scrutiny for VIP program practices and promotional tactics similar to industry leaders including misleading promotions targeting frequent gamblers
• BetMGM: Subject to lawsuits from self-identified compulsive gamblers alleging the platform encouraged tens of millions of dollars in wagers despite obvious addiction signs
• Bet365, Fanatics, and ESPN Bet: Under investigation for marketing practices targeting college students and young adults, with concerns about youth gambling addiction

One plaintiff reported having four VIP hosts simultaneously encouraging compulsive betting, while his deposits reached 440% of his annual salary.

The question at the heart of litigation: Do companies have a duty to intervene when their own data reveals addiction, or can they legally profit from users’ inability to control their behavior?

The City of Baltimore’s lawsuit filed on April 3, 2025, represents a novel legal approach using municipal consumer protection ordinances.

The complaint alleges Marylanders placed over $457 million in bets on DraftKings and FanDuel in January 2025 alone, with the platforms collecting massive amounts of user data specifically to identify patterns like “loss chasing” and excessive betting behaviors.

The lawsuit seeks $1,000 penalties for each time the companies targeted users showing signs of problematic gambling.

If you lost substantial amounts of money on DraftKings, FanDuel, or other major gambling platforms while receiving VIP incentives or promotional offers, you may be entitled to compensation.

Contact TruLaw using the chat on this page to receive a free consultation and determine whether you qualify to join others in filing a Gambling Addiction Lawsuit today.

Recent Settlements and Verdicts

These substantial legal resolutions demonstrate both the viability and value of gambling addiction claims:

• DoubleDown Interactive: $415 million class action settlement (2022) resolved claims the social casino violated Washington gambling laws by selling virtual chips with real money, with settlement payments reaching nearly $6,000 for users who spent substantial amounts on free to play mobile games
• DraftKings New Jersey settlement (July 2025): Confidential settlement with Lisa D’Alessandro after her ex-husband lost approximately $942,000 over four years, including money stolen from children’s savings accounts, while DraftKings provided VIP perks despite clear addiction signs and gambling debt
• DraftKings Pennsylvania settlement: Dr. Kavita Fischer reached confidential settlement in July 2025 after losing more than $150,000 in four months while DraftKings continued offering incentives despite her expressing concerns about gambling within her means
• VGW settlement: $11.75 million for Kentucky users of Chumba Casino and LuckyLand Slots social casinos
• Zynga online casino: $12 million settlement for misleading virtual currency practices

These settlements establish precedent showing courts recognize gambling companies bear responsibility when they actively exploit addicted users rather than passively permitting them to legally gamble.

The settlements also reveal factors that increase case value: documented communication with VIP hosts showing company knowledge of addiction, dramatic escalation in deposits that should have triggered investigations, evidence of money obtained through theft or embezzlement to fund gambling, and severe consequences including relationship dissolution or suicide attempts.

Settlement amounts generally reflect the totality of losses plus compensation for emotional distress and life disruption.

While some cases settle for amounts approximating documented losses, others include substantial additional compensation when evidence shows particularly egregious conduct.

The presence of VIP host communications often strengthens cases substantially because they demonstrate the company’s active participation in fostering addiction rather than merely providing a platform.

The trajectory of litigation suggests increasing willingness to hold platforms accountable.

As more internal documents surface through discovery revealing executives’ knowledge about addiction risks and deliberate decisions to prioritize revenue over user protection, plaintiffs’ attorneys anticipate larger settlements and potential jury verdicts that include punitive damages.

The next wave of cases may benefit from established precedent and discovery findings that expose industry-wide practices.

Gambling platforms engineer addiction through deliberate psychological manipulation, technological design choices, and exploitative business practices that transform recreational betting into compulsive behavior.

Your gambling problems weren’t personal weakness or bad decision-making – they were the predictable outcome of systems specifically designed by behavioral psychologists and data scientists to override rational thought and exploit vulnerability.

These platforms differ fundamentally from traditional casinos by operating 24/7 on your smartphone, eliminating all friction from the betting process, and using real-time behavioral data to identify moments of maximum susceptibility.

Current litigation exposes how companies knowingly deployed tactics that promote compulsive betting despite recognizing they would create addiction, prioritizing revenue extraction over user welfare.

Deceptive Marketing and Promotional Tactics

A Pennsylvania class action filed in July 2025 alleges these promotions violate state Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law.

The lawsuit states: “DraftKings attracts new customers and keeps existing customers coming back by advertising an all-upside gambling experience, falsely promising customers that they will get free money that they can wager without any risk.

In reality, DraftKings has created an all-upside opportunity only for itself.”

The mathematical deception becomes clear when examining actual promotional terms.

A “Casino Deposit Match” promotion might advertise matching a $500 deposit with $500 in bonus funds, but the fine print requires wagering both amounts multiple times before withdrawal.

Most users exhaust their original deposit attempting to unlock the “free” money, then continue chasing losses with additional deposits – exactly as platforms designed.

Lawsuits identify several sophisticated promotional strategies that sports betting apps use to deliberately mislead consumers:

• “Risk-free” and “no sweat” bet promotions: Advertised as safe wagering opportunities but actually require users to deposit real money upfront, return only site credits (not cash) when bets lose, and force users to gamble additional funds to access promotional value – one Pennsylvania lawsuit notes these credits cannot be withdrawn and must be wagered through intricate requirements
• Deposit match bonuses: Promoted as generous rewards but bury requirements in fine print that users must wager 10-30 times the bonus amount before withdrawing anything, creating mathematical certainty of losing money for most sports bettors
• Hidden wagering requirements: A “$1,000 risk-free bet” typically requires wagering $10,000-$30,000 in a compressed timeframe to actually receive the benefit, with DraftKings taking 9% of all winnings, ensuring users never recoup their full deposits
• Time-sensitive offers: Create artificial urgency and FOMO (fear of missing out) that triggers impulsive betting without rational analysis of odds or financial capacity

These promotions deliberately structure incentives to trigger loss-chasing behavior, a hallmark symptom of gambling disorder.

When users lose their initial “risk-free” bet and receive site credits, the promotional design pushes them to immediately bet again rather than walking away.

This pattern repeats until users have deposited far more than intended, trapped in a cycle where previous losses psychologically compel continued gambling to recover financial losses.

Ohio has recognized the inherently deceptive nature of these terms by banning the marketing phrases “free bets” and “risk-free,” acknowledging that the terminology itself misleads consumers about the true financial risks and obligations involved.

H3: Addictive App Design Features

A 2022 audit of 10 online gambling apps in the United Kingdom identified these as “dark patterns” – design elements that exploit cognitive biases to act against users’ best interests.

The features include deposits and bets placeable with one click, safety tools deliberately hidden or difficult to access, prompts to place another bet appearing immediately after previous wagers, and the absence of loss displays during gameplay.

Dr. Jamie Torrance, a psychologist at Swansea University studying gambling, explains that sports betting “is becoming far more rapid.

It’s not as harmful as a slot machine, but it’s moving in that direction.”

These technological features are specifically engineered to create compulsive gambling behavior:

• One-click betting: Eliminates all friction from wagering process, allowing users to place bets in seconds without deliberation about financial consequences, mimicking slot machines’ rapid-fire gameplay that research identifies as most addictive gambling format
• Live in-game betting (micro-betting): Creates constant wagering opportunities during sporting events on outcomes like next score, missed free throw, or play-by-play occurrences, transforming single-game bets into dozens of rapid decisions that produce continuous dopamine hits
• Strategic push notifications: Timed to coincide with sporting events, sent after losses to encourage immediate “recovery” betting, deployed when algorithms detect users haven’t wagered recently, and personalized based on betting history to boost engagement
• Slot machine-style rewards: Visual celebrations and sound effects for small wins even when overall session results in net losses, creating “loss-disguised-as-win” experiences that psychologically feel like success despite financial harm
• 24/7 smartphone accessibility: Eliminates physical barriers traditional casino games provided, making it impossible to escape gambling triggers and allowing betting in bed, at work, during family events, or any moment of weakness

The pace of betting has accelerated from wagering on game outcomes once per event to placing dozens of micro-bets throughout a single contest, with only seconds between decisions.

Push notifications and gambling ads function as particularly powerful addiction triggers.

Research published in academic journals found that notifications serve as “cues” prompting gambling even when users weren’t initially thinking about betting, are especially risky when promoting “free bets” or time-sensitive offers, substantially increase impulsive waging behavior, and result in measurably higher betting frequency on days users receive them.

Problem gamblers are more likely to enable notifications and less likely to disable them even when recognizing the harm.

One problematic DraftKings notification from June 2024 read: “The NYM are 6-0 since Grimace threw out the first pitch! They’re -125 to make it 7 tonight. Let’s go.”

The reference to McDonald’s mascot Grimace was entirely irrelevant to game outcomes but designed to create false pattern recognition and emotional connection that encourages betting.

These features work synergistically to override rational decision-making.

The combination of one-click betting, continuous opportunities, dopamine-triggering rewards, and strategic notifications creates what researchers call “dark flow” – a trance-like state where users become completely absorbed in gambling activity, losing awareness of time passage and financial losses mounting.

The constant smartphone accessibility represents perhaps the most dangerous innovation.

Unlike traditional casinos requiring physical presence, online platforms eliminate all barriers to gambling.

Users report placing bets at stoplights, in bathrooms at work, while lying in bed unable to sleep, and during family gatherings.

The inability to escape these triggers makes recovery far more difficult than addiction to substances or location-based gambling.

VIP Programs and Targeted Exploitation

The City of Baltimore’s April 2025 lawsuit alleges that VIP programs “are used to personalize the inducements to gamble, and proprietary algorithms help identify just the kind of push-notification that is most likely to induce the next bet.”

The complaint states: “The platforms are designed to create disordered gamblers and then exploit them.”

Lisa D’Alessandro’s lawsuit against DraftKings provides a detailed case study of VIP exploitation.

Her ex-husband – identified in court documents as “Mdallo1990” – saw his average monthly deposits increase from $2,000 in 2020 to $64,715 in 2023, despite earning only $175,000 annually.

By 2023, he was making 80-100 transactions daily and placing over 14,000 bets per year.

Rather than investigating this obvious pattern of problem gambling, DraftKings assigned him to their VIP program, provided multiple hosts, and sent luxury merchandise including hand-signed postcards, whiskey glasses, and a trophy inscribed “the crown is yours.”

Current litigation exposes VIP host programs as the most predatory practices in the gambling industry:

• Data-driven identification: Platforms use algorithms analyzing deposit frequency, session duration, loss-chasing patterns, and late-night gambling to identify users who developed gambling addictions, then specifically target these vulnerable individuals for VIP recruitment
• Personal account managers: Assign “hosts” who establish quasi-intimate relationships with high-value customers, send personalized messages, texts, and emails up to 100 times per day in documented cases, and provide direct phone contact unavailable to regular users
• Luxury incentives: Offer free tickets to NFL, NBA, and MLB games, all-expense-paid vacations including Formula One events and championship games, high-end electronics and merchandise, cash bonuses and deposit matches, and exclusive access to celebrity events
• Deliberate exploitation of known addiction: Continue aggressive marketing even after users explicitly request account closure, mention financial problems, admit gambling with stolen money, or display exponential increases in betting that should trigger anti-money laundering investigations

Attorney Matthew Litt, representing multiple plaintiffs in VIP-related lawsuits, describes the host-player relationship as “quasi-intimate” and states: “You just don’t get to these catastrophic levels without it.

Once the VIP has their hooks in them it then goes to those astronomical levels.”

One plaintiff reported their VIP host contacted them up to 100 times per day between 2021 and 2023, including on days the user didn’t gamble, actively working to re-engage someone attempting to break free from addiction.

Another plaintiff, former Jacksonville Jaguars employee Amit Patel, alleges his FanDuel VIP host provided over $1.1 million in credits, luxury trips, and exclusive event access while knowing Patel was embezzling money from his employer to fund gambling.

Research shows that as few as 20% of all bettors generate approximately 80% of sportsbooks’ profits, with many in this high-value category struggling with addiction.

A 2024 Connecticut study found that more than half the state’s sports betting revenue came from people with gambling problems.

Rather than protecting these vulnerable users, platforms allegedly weaponize their behavioral data to extract maximum lifetime value.

The inverted customer service model becomes apparent when examining compensation structures.

While companies claim VIP hosts aren’t incentivized by customer betting activity, job advertisements reveal hosts must “exceed engagement and service level performance targets” and “assist in reactivation efforts to re-engage inactive users.”

The documented behavior patterns – increased contact after losses, aggressive re-engagement of users attempting to quit, and continued promotional offers despite obvious financial devastation – suggest hosts are evaluated on their ability to increase customer gambling regardless of harm caused.

If you were assigned a VIP host who continued targeting you with luxury gifts and promotional offers despite obvious signs of gambling addiction, you may have a strong legal claim.

Contact TruLaw using the chat on this page to receive a free case review and determine whether you qualify to join others in filing an Online Gambling Lawsuit today.

Our Online Gambling Addiction attorney at TruLaw is dedicated to supporting clients through the process of filing an Online Gambling Addiction lawsuit.

With extensive experience in product liability cases, Jessica Paluch-Hoerman and our partner law firms’ legal team work with litigation leaders and addiction specialists to prove how online gambling platforms with manipulative features caused you harm.

TruLaw focuses on securing compensation for financial losses, mental health treatment expenses, addiction therapy costs, and other damages resulting from your online gambling addiction injuries, including out of pocket costs for counseling and rehabilitation.

We recognize the financial and psychological toll that Online Gambling Addiction has on your life and provide the personalized guidance you need when seeking justice.

Meet the Lead Online Gambling Addiction Attorney at TruLaw

Meet our lead Online Gambling Addiction attorney:

• Jessica Paluch-Hoerman: As founder and managing attorney of TruLaw, Jessica brings her experience in product liability and personal injury to her client-centered approach by prioritizing open communication and personalized attention with her clients. Through TruLaw and partner law firms, Jessica has helped collect over $3 billion on behalf of injured individuals across all 50 states through verdicts and negotiated settlements.

How much does hiring an Online Gambling Addiction lawyer from TruLaw cost?

At TruLaw, we believe financial concerns should never stand in the way of justice.

That’s why we operate on a contingency fee basis – with this approach, you only pay legal fees after you’ve been awarded compensation for your injuries.

If you or a loved one experienced gambling addiction, financial devastation, depression, anxiety, or other harm from online gambling platforms designed with addictive features, you may be eligible to seek compensation.

Contact TruLaw using the chat on this page to receive an instant case evaluation and determine whether you qualify to join others in filing an Online Gambling Addiction lawsuit today.

Online gambling addiction lawsuits are being filed by individuals and families across the country who suffered financial ruin and mental health problems from gambling platforms designed with deliberately addictive mechanisms and insufficient safeguards.

TruLaw is currently accepting clients for the Online Gambling Addiction lawsuit.

A few reasons to choose TruLaw for your Online Gambling Addiction lawsuit include:

• If We Don’t Win, You Don’t Pay: The Online Gambling Addiction lawyers at TruLaw and our partner firms operate on a contingency fee basis, meaning we only get paid if you win.
• Expertise: We have decades of experience handling product liability cases similar to the Online Gambling Addiction lawsuit.
• Successful Track Record: TruLaw and our partner law firms have helped our clients recover billions of dollars in compensation through verdicts and negotiated settlements.

If you or a loved one suffered gambling addiction, severe financial losses, or mental health problems from online gambling platforms, you may be eligible to seek compensation.

Contact TruLaw using the chat on this page to receive an instant case evaluation that can determine if you qualify for the Online Gambling Addiction lawsuit today.