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FanDuel Donates $175,000 to Four Local Organizations to Support Hurricane Recovery Efforts in Georgia

PR Newswire

ATLANTA, Oct. 3, 2024

ATLANTA, Oct. 3, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- FanDuel, the premier online gaming company in North America, today announced a $175,000 donation to four Georgia organizations, Greater Valdosta United Way (GVUW), United Way of Toombs, Montgomery and Wheeler Counties, Second Harvest Foodbank of South Georgia, and Golden Harvest Food Bank INC, supporting hurricane relief efforts throughout impacted communities in southern Georgia.

By Katherine Sayre A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee who embezzled more than $22 million from the team is suing FanDuel, alleging that the betting company fueled his fantasy-sports spending and ignored his gambling addiction. Amit Patel, who is serving a six-and-a-half-year federal prison term after pleading guilty to stealing money from the team, claimed in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that a FanDuel VIP host showered him with more than $1 million in betting credits, all-expenses-paid trips and gifts to prey on him. He is seeking $250 million in damages. The gifts ensured that he would "deposit money and gamble in amounts and frequencies that only an addict could ever gamble," the lawsuit says. The lawsuit also claims FanDuel circumvented anti-money-laundering and other financial rules to keep him depositing more money. A FanDuel spokesman declined to comment. The lawsuit, which also names FanDuel parent company Flutter Entertainment, was filed in federal court in New York. Patel was sentenced earlier this year for stealing from the Jaguars, where he worked on staff and used his role as administrator for the team's virtual credit card program to embezzle the money. Online sports-betting and fantasy-sports companies deploy VIP hosts to build relationships with big-spending customers, monitoring their betting habits and doling out credits and gifts to keep them gambling. Gifts Patel said he received included all-expense paid trips to Formula One Grand Prix in Miami and the NCAA football championship last year. Companies' VIP practices came under federal scrutiny earlier this year. Sen. Richard Blumenthal sent letters urging several gambling companies, including FanDuel, to stop using player data and other marketing tactics to target customers with gambling problems. FanDuel knew Patel was a gambling addict based on Patel's deposit amounts and frequency -- a total of more than $20 million through about 1,077 deposits, according to the lawsuit. Patel was diagnosed with a gambling disorder in April 2023, the lawsuit says. In daily fantasy-sports contests, customers build teams of real-life athletes and compete against other teams based on their athletes' performances. Patel's FanDuel VIP host communicated with him nearly every day between late 2021 and early 2023, through email, phone and text message, the lawsuit alleges. Patel alleges that FanDuel would give him a $60,000 credit when he reached deposits of at least $600,000 for fantasy sports contests, according to the lawsuit. FanDuel staff delivered those credits in increments of $25,000, $25,000 and $10,000 to avoid raising suspicions among FanDuel's internal compliance staff, according to the suit. At one point, the host started communicating with Patel on his personal phone, to avoid detection by FanDuel's compliance staff and told Patel to fabricate dialogue with the host's FanDuel phone "to make sure it appears to FanDuel that their communication remained frequent," the lawsuit alleges. Write to Katherine Sayre at katherine.sayre@wsj.com Corrections & Amplifications This item was corrected on October 2, 2024 to clarify that Amit Patel is serving a six-and-a-half-year federal prison term, not at six-and-a-half month federal prison term. (END) Dow Jones Newswires October 01, 2024 13:57 ET (17:57 GMT)