According to court documents released on Tuesday March 2nd, FanDuel faces a class action lawsuit filed by a user of its gambling app for allegedly delaying scores and enticing users to make losing bets.
The lawsuit alleges that FanDuel knowingly delays real-time scoring causing bettors to place losing wagers.
The complaint states:
“While purporting to provide its customers with real-time, live sports game data, FanDuel regularly understates the time remaining in live sporting events to induce its customers to make wagers they are more likely to lose”
The class action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The named plaintiff, Andrew Melnick, alleges that the online gambling company uses deceptive trade methods to give itself an unfair advantage over its customers. According to the lawsuit, this is in breach of several states’ consumer protection laws.
The plaintiff is seeking damages from the company, but most importantly, an order stopping FanDuel from operating its app until scores are accurately reported in real time.
Melnick claims that he made wagers on several NCAA basketball games. His wagers were based on the combined scores of two games being less than a given number, and so the remaining time in each game was “critical to the determination of the risk and reward associated with a given wager”.
The plaintiff alleges that he later discovered the inaccuracy in FanDuel’s real-time display before noting that, in some instances, the reported score was also incorrect.
He then states that both of these factors led him to place losing bets that he would never have made had he the correct and accurate information.
With more than 6 million users on FanDuel, it’s unknown how many will join the class action suit.
FanDuel has yet to comment.
Ciaran has been working within the Gambling Industry as a deep analyst since 2019. His deep knowledge and understanding of all the gambling regulations, and processes makes him a true asset, and an always valuable point of view for Gambling Industry News, allowing us to cover every topics from a brand new perspective.