FanDuel sued for $250m by ex-Jacksonville Jaguars employee convicted of wire fraud
Flutter-owned operator alleged to have “actively and intentionally” targeted Amit Patel, who is currently serving a six-year prison sentence, as he deposited around $20m between 2019 and 2023
FanDuel is the subject of a $250m (£188.1m) civil suit filed by a former Jacksonville Jaguars employee who stole $22m from the NFL franchise after he claimed the operator was aware of his gambling addiction.
Amit Patel, who was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in Williamsburg federal prison in March after pleading guilty to wire fraud in December 2023, has argued FanDuel ignored its own responsible gambling procedures to “actively and intentionally” target him to gamble.
As a result, the former Jaguars employee is seeking more than $250m in compensatory and punitive damages.
The suit, filed in the Southern District of New York, contains an argument from Patel’s attorney that claims FanDuel continued to incentivise the 31-year-old to gamble, offering $1.1m in credits as well as trips to F1’s Miami Grand Prix and the Masters golf tournament during 2021 and 2022.
Matthew Litt, Patel’s attorney, explained: “To be clear, this suit does not allege liability on the basis that defendants passively permitted an addicted gambler to use its platform.
“Rather, this suit alleges violation of statutory and common law because defendants actively and intentionally targeted and preyed on plaintiff with incentives, credits and gifts to create, nurture, expedite and/or exacerbate his addiction with the only possible outcome that he would ultimately hit rock bottom.”
Court documents revealed Patel deposited around $20m with FanDuel between late 2019 and early 2023, most commonly on daily fantasy sports (DFS) games.
The complaint read: “The plaintiff was at all times relevant an addicted gambler and was known by the defendants to be an addicted gambler through, and among other things, the data it actively collected and monitored on his massive deposits, amounts bet and frequency of bets.
“Defendants preyed on plaintiff by using its information about his addiction to target him for enticements including well over $1m in FanDuel credits and lavish gifts to ensure that he deposit money and gamble in amounts and frequencies that only an addict could ever gamble.”
Throughout the entirety of this period, FanDuel remained an official sports betting partner of the NFL, and Patel has claimed the operator was well aware of his job title and the fact that working for an NFL side meant he was ineligible to gamble.
According to the suit, Patel was assigned a FanDuel VIP host, named as Brett Krause, who communicated with the ex-Jaguars employee as much as 100 times a day. Even on days when Patel had opted not to gamble, Krause would often reach out to ask why.
Krause is alleged to have moved communications with Patel from his work phone to his personal phone to evade detection from FanDuel’s compliance personnel, and even acknowledged to the plaintiff that they were “breaking AML [anti-money laundering] protocol.”
As mentioned, Patel is adamant that FanDuel was aware his funds were not coming from a legitimate source, with the civil suit outlining that the “defendants received deposits from the plaintiff in amounts which could only have come from a corporate credit card”.
Patel was the manager of the Jaguars financial planning and analysis department before being sued by the NFL side in Florida last July, claiming he stole money through an “elaborate scheme” that involved virtual credit cards issued to team staff, as per claims industry news site, Claims Journal.
The Jaguars are seeking $66.6m in damages from Patel.
When approached for comment by EGR, Patel’s attorney Litt explained: “The goal of the suit is a fair apportionment of responsibility among all responsible parties. The suit certainly does not contend that Amit is blameless.
“But right now, Amit is facing 100% of the consequences for what happened while FanDuel is facing none — despite FanDuel’s very active role in Amit’s gambling disorder. The objective is not just to balance things out in Amit’s case, but to stop FanDuel from actively enticing addicted gamblers in the future.”
FanDuel explained that it does not comment on pending litigation.