Congress Presses FanDuel For All VIP Celebrity Videos Sent
Three lawmakers have given FanDuel until 20 October to hand over every personalised celebrity video sent to VIP bettors, amid concerns the programme targets vulnerable customers.
Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representatives Paul Tonko and Valerie Foushee have sent FanDuel chief executive Christian Genetski a third letter demanding copies of every personalised celebrity video the operator has sent to VIP customers, according to Legal Sports Report.
The three lawmakers said they remain concerned that FanDuel's VIP programme and its associated perks are being used to exploit vulnerable bettors.
Their inquiry began in August after a personalised video featuring baseball player Bryce Harper, sent to a VIP customer in November 2024, came to light. FanDuel answered only some of the questions Congress posed in its first letter, a response Tonko told LSR in August was unsatisfactory.
Lawmakers repeated the same questions in a follow-up letter last month, demanding what they called real answers. FanDuel now has until 20 October to respond. The operator did not immediately reply to LSR's request for comment on the latest letter.
FanDuel told Congress on 24 September, in response to a 3 September inquiry, that it had sent approximately 30 such videos of athletes and entertainers over the past two years, describing them as a token of appreciation for a customer's loyalty.
The lawmakers rejected that explanation, pointing out that the Harper video went to a customer who later sued FanDuel over problem gambling. They also said they are not convinced the operator does enough to protect customers.
FanDuel claims to monitor a range of behaviours through what it calls "automated and manual proactive reviews to identify players who may be experiencing gambling harm," the lawmakers wrote, but it has not explained whether that same data is used to target bettors with what they termed predatory promotions.
The letter sets out detailed demands, including copies of every personalised video sent to VIP bettors, along with each recipient's prior wagering totals and wins or losses, whether they had ever asked to suspend their account or limit their gambling, and the reasoning a VIP host used to single them out.
Congress also wants to know what steps VIP hosts took to check whether a bettor was vulnerable or showing signs of financial hardship, which service was used to produce the videos, and whether the featured athletes or celebrities were aware their appearance was being used to promote gambling.
A further question asks FanDuel to describe the data and behaviours it monitors for problem gambling, and whether that same information feeds into personalised videos, push notifications, promotions, retention bonuses or other perks.
Blumenthal posted the letter on X, writing: "FanDuel claims the personalized videos they sent to bettors featuring athletes & celebrities weren't used to entice gambling. Well, FanDuel let's see the receipts. I'm demanding these videos & more info about how the VIP programs target problem gamblers."
FanDuel is not the only major operator facing scrutiny over how it targets customers. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is reviewing DraftKings' use of machine learning and artificial intelligence following a New York Times report that found the operator used such tools to direct promotions at customers more likely to lose, LSR reported.
Massachusetts is among the few jurisdictions whose regulations explicitly address AI, barring operators from basing promotions on any machine learning system known or reasonably expected to make a platform more addictive.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board has not confirmed a specific review of DraftKings but told LSR it is reviewing the issues raised in reporting by the New York Times and ProPublica.