Share 
State of Play’s TL;DR
- Florida attorney Jennifer Hoekstra has filed 15 lawsuits against FanDuel and DraftKings.
- The suits claim the companies’ sports betting apps are designed to be addictive.
Florida attorney Jennifer Hoekstra has filed 15 lawsuits against FanDuel and DraftKings, alleging the operators designed their sports betting apps to be addictive and to keep users gambling despite mounting losses.
The cases add to a broader debate over how online sportsbooks use push notifications, VIP programs, and customer tracking at a time when US betting activity and problem gambling concerns are both rising. According to CBS News, online sports wagering reached $167 billion last year, while a recent UCLA study found bankruptcies and credit card delinquencies rose about 25% in states that legalized online sports betting.
Hoekstra told CBS News she represents people who have “essentially lost their houses and their spouses and their kids over this.” She also compared sportsbook engagement tactics to social media addiction claims:
“It’s the same type of workflow, the same type of notifications. It’s almost as if it’s the same type of addiction.”
Lawsuits target app design, notifications, and retention tactics
The report says Hoekstra previously worked on litigation that produced an earlier court win against Meta over claims its platforms were addictive.
She is now advancing similar arguments against betting apps.
CBS News reported that gaming companies use VIP perks, personalized outreach, and push notifications to keep bettors engaged. A former FanDuel employee said the company could track customer behavior and target users who took breaks with notifications, describing the approach as “less about cutting them off than slowing them down,” adding, “It’s never forever.”
Bettors said those tactics intensified their gambling. Louis Ruggiero said he lost $100,000 in three months on FanDuel and was later offered VIP status.
“From that moment forward, I wasn’t just a customer, I was a target.”
Another bettor, Esteban Ruiz-Haynes, said he wagers about $80,000 to $120,000 a year on FanDuel and has received VIP treatment and gifts.
Operators point to responsible gambling tools as scrutiny grows
FanDuel said it has about 18 million customers, invested $158 million in responsible gambling last year, and removed 5,700 people from its platform because of their gambling behavior. In a statement cited by CBS News, the company said “any claim that we don’t aggressively take actions to monitor and curb problem behavior is completely false.”
DraftKings said it could not comment on pending litigation and said all employees are trained annually on responsible engagement.
Joe Maloney of the Sports Betting Alliance said most bettors gamble responsibly and said legal operators offer deposit, wager, and loss limits. “It is for entertainment. It is not for wealth creation,” Maloney said.
The report also cited a National Council on Problem Gambling survey finding that 8% of American adults, or almost 20 million people, reported experiencing at least one indicator of problematic gambling behavior “many times” in the past year.
Based on reporting by CBS News via WWAY 3.
