FanDuel, meet federal court. Federal court, FanDuel.
A disgruntled live bettor has filed a class action lawsuit against FanDuel in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The bettor, according to a report by BloombergLaw.com, is accusing the company of engaging in unfair and deceptive trade practices.
In short: The plaintiff believes FanDuel is purposefully delaying and/or futzing with the live data feed in an effort to coerce would-be bettors to place bets they have, in a nutshell, already lost.
“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 suit alleges.
The plaintiff, Andrew B. Melnick of Deerfield, Ill., says he signed up for an account with FanDuel’s sportsbook on Feb. 26, 2021, depositing $100. Two days later, Melnick claims he began betting on live NCAA men’s college basketball, concentrating on betting the unders during live games.
Melnick — in screenshots included in the lawsuit — claims that during a game between New Orleans and Incarnate Word on March 1, there were six minutes left in the game at 8:52 p.m. according to FanDuel’s information, and then at 8:53 p.m., FanDuel’s live feed showed eight minutes were left in the game.
Bad information
Melnick is accusing FanDuel of providing false information, contributing to his losses of over $50. He further accuses the company of serially underestimating the time remaining in NCAA men’s basketball games, ranging anywhere from 5 to 35 percent.
He also claims the scores of the games themselves were incorrect numerous times.
Melnick is seeking his money back, as well as the money of thousands of FanDuel customers in the 10 states in which the company operates its online sportsbook.
Melnick claims he would not have placed the “under” bets if he had been given the full measure of information.
The lawsuit harkens back to a situation last October where a pair of big-time bettors accused William Hill of intentionally delaying their live bet acceptance. William Hill vehemently denied the accusations, but it certainly highlighted the issues surrounding live betting.
FanDuel did not immediately comment on the case.