FanDuel To Make It Easier For Someone To Ban Their Spouse From Playing DFS

Gambling company also agrees to $375,000 donation for responsible play advocacy
Read more about author

Brian served as a senior reporter and online content manager for Card Player Magazine for nearly a decade before joining USBets in October 2018. He is currently focused on legal and regulated sports betting and online gaming. He's an avid jiu-jitsu practitioner in his free time.

gavel on computer
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email

A proposed settlement this week in a complex class-action case involving FanDuel will result in it being easier for a person to ban their spouse from engaging in play if there’s a responsible gambling concern.

According to documents filed Thursday in federal court in Massachusetts, FanDuel, as part of a proposed settlement of litigation dating back to 2016, “expands the ability of spouses of FanDuel players to seek the exclusion of their player spouse because they are having problems with playing responsibly.”

“Under the Settlement, player spouses are no longer required to prove joint ownership of the financial account associated with the account, or the existence of unmet financial or child support obligations, to request that FanDuel place their spouse on FanDuel’s exclusion list,” the filing stated.

These changes will pertain to daily fantasy sports only, as voluntary exclusion from FanDuel’s traditional sports betting and legal online casino products are under separate regulation from various state gambling bodies. FanDuel offers traditional digital sports betting in 10 states.

FanDuel maintains discretion in spousal bans

“In processing these requests,” the filing stated, “FanDuel retains the discretion to determine whether a period of exclusion or deposit limits are appropriate under the facts and circumstances provided.”

FanDuel must implement these changes within 90 days of the final approval of the settlement and maintain them for a period of at least four years. The daily fantasy sports platform will eventually update its website with the details about the change in third-party exclusion practices.

In addition, FanDuel agreed to donate $375,000 for responsible gambling initiatives to at least one national charity. The New York-based company admitted no wrongdoing in the case.

“This litigation has been contentious,” the 25-page filing stated. “The Family Member Plaintiffs claim that FanDuel violated their respective states’ consumer protection statutes and gambling statutes. FanDuel denies any wrongdoing and argues that the Family Member Plaintiffs’ claims suffer from critical deficiencies and enormous litigation risk.”

FanDuel will also pay additional money to resolve claims in the multi-year case.

“The Proposed Settlement provides that FanDuel will not object to Class Counsel seeking fees, costs, and expenses that do not exceed $195,000.00,” the filing affirmed. “Given the costs and expenses of litigating this action for five years, these fees and expenses are reasonable. FanDuel has also agreed not to oppose an application by the Class Representative Plaintiffs for an incentive payment of up to $1,250.00 each.”

Photo: Shutterstock

Facebook
Twitter
Email
LinkedIn

Related Posts