Since 2018, when the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize sports betting, Americans have put more than $600 billion into play. Sports betting is now legal in 39 states and D.C. Add in prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, and more people are betting on sports than ever before.
But that explosive growth has brought consequences: a recent survey found that about a quarter of active sportsbook account holders said they’d lost enough on a bet that they’d have trouble meeting their financial obligations.
Amid mounting scrutiny, DraftKings has pushed back, arguing that their “responsible gaming” system provides adequate safeguards to protect their customers from spiraling out of control.
So ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson decided to put that to the test: If he bet like a compulsive gambler, would DraftKings stop him?
Spoiler alert: No.
Over the next 10 weeks, he’d learn just how much DraftKings would encourage his recklessness — and just how little pushback he’d get as he spiraled downward.
Lori Kalani, DraftKing’s chief responsible gaming officer, said if a customer waves too many red flags, the company will proactively close the account, though DraftKings declined to say how many times they’ve done so.
In a statement, DraftKings noted that all employees are trained on responsible gaming every year and that it is “embedded across our business and essential to DraftKings’ long-term sustainability.”
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We’re still reporting on this topic. If you use apps like DraftKings or FanDuel or have experience in the gambling industry, you can help us with our reporting by either sharing your transaction history with us or by contacting Jake Pearson at jake.pearson@propublica.org.
The worst thing about online gambling is that you can't escape it. If you're a addict, it uses to be that most people had to make a deliberate trip to a casino, and that was usually far enough that you couldn't go daily. The addiction was a real problem but you could set up your life to minimize temptation and exposure.
Now? It's in your pocket. And it's on a device that you're pretty much expected to have with you at all times, at home or out and about.
You can remove the app, but it's only a few taps away from being downloaded again.
It's messed up to force addicts to be constantly exposed to such massive temptation.
I used to live in Vegas and the casinos were depressing places, surrounded by pawn shops and check cashing outfits, and if you went in during the day, people just staring at the slot machines like it was their job. It's a terrible place for a gambling addict to live because your addiction is never more than a short drive away, and you probably pass a casino on your way home from work. Online is worse.
This is a really good article, with data tracking in real time how these companies entice very risky financial behavior, pretty much like digital drug dealers.
They have the data, they know their main source of profits comes from addicts, and they couldn’t care less about the lives being destroyed by tier apps.
The hooker selling herself at the corner has more integrity than the people running these companies. This is a huge problem that will cause huge damage before its “tabaco moment” arrives, if such a thing ever happens.
what's most vicious about online gambling is that you can literally do it 24/7. it's 3am and you can't sleep? how about i gamble, sitting on a public toilet constipated? i've got nothing else to do, let's gamble.
i don't know what zyns are, but the bar example has restrictions. you have to get out of your house and go there and the bar isn't open 24/7. that already limits your compulsion. and yes you could start drinking at home, but again you still need to leave your house to get it or order online and wait for it to come. online gambling removes all these barriers.
Comped meals and rooms at the casino…the house knows who pays and they want them to come back. Honestly, I think it’s an interesting difference compared to the prediction markets, where there isn’t really a ‘house’ to bet against
My understanding is that they don’t set a spread. The odds are determined by how other people are betting, which I understand to be somewhat different than the house setting the spread.
Pick a binary bet of your choice and look at the costs of yes + no. They exceed $1 because that’s how polymarket makes their money. The market sets the prices of bets but there’s a vig.
The way they get around gambling regulations is by not setting the spreads themselves: because the spreads are generated by the way people bet they count as financial instruments. I suspect they converge to Vegas spreads for a lot of things because people tend to trust professional oddsmakers
The difference with those are that you have to actually leave their house and go to these places to enjoy the benefits. With online gambling it can instead be done literally every single day from the couch.
Edit: sorry I see that u/aceshighsays made the exact same point. Very appropriate username by the way lol
There was Camel Cash and Marlboro Miles back in the day. It was actually pretty nice stuff. I've got some Marlboro swag I got from the distributor back in the 90s that I still use. A leather toiletries bag that's been around the world 20 times and still looks nearly new.
wow. this is so fucked up. specifically the pattern of giving you pop ups re "responsible gambling", and when you decline, giving you discounts to bet more.
Idk, these companies need to be accountable, but so do people participating. You have to actively go to these sites/apps and register in the first place.
The amount of ads that play during sports that I watch don’t make me want to gamble. Same with the alcohol ads they spam, they don’t make me want to drink either. It makes me dislike them lol.
People downvoting don’t understand personal responsibility, what a surprise.
Predatory corporations are inherently unethical and thus should not be permitted to exist in a just society. If Draft Kings could actually operate ethically then and only then could we talk about personal responsibility.
Ads may not affect you, but they have an effect. Otherwise companies wouldn't bother producing them. And let me tell you, if you're into something with possible gambling, there are endless ads for it. I'm into horse racing and when i go to the track or watch a race online, I'm inundated with direct ads for gambling and constant streams of info regarding current odds, which horses are value bets, etc etc. I was actually shocked when I watched the US Gold Cup and they had long segments on non- gambling topics. Regardless, once your foot is in the door, there's constant pressure to bet
Like I mentioned, the amount of ads that play during sports I watch don’t make me gamble. I watch UFC and even the fighters shout out the gambling services, segments where they talk about parlays, statistics, and betting favourites that I don’t care about. You still have to actually go to the site or app and register to gamble. That is all on the person to do so.
Seriously, no personal accountability in these replies.
I hate these dumb ads but there is still an initial conscious choice to participate in gambling.
It's fine to call for personal responsibility, as long as you realize it's actual virtue signaling and also that it's useless. Nobody just read that post and made a chemistry-altering change to their brain.
If you legalize gambling a certain number of lives will be destroyed by gambling. Is it worth it so that we have the freedums to gamble? Who knows. It just is.
The article said HALF of men 18-48 have a sports betting account. That's not half that population with some sort of moral failing or misunderstanding of consequences. That's the result of predatory actions by these betting companies. The unavoidable ads in person and on every single sports broadcast in the US, and the manipulation once people are on the platforms is a type of psychological warfare almost no one is equipped to stand up to.
I'm very happy for you that you were able to resist getting hooked on gambling. Good job. But you must understand not everyone's experience is going to be exactly like yours. You need to learn to see things from the perspective of other people, even if that perspective seems distasteful to you at first.
Balancing freedom and personal responsibility against those who would rig whatever system they can in their favor is the eternal vigilance of effective government in a nutshell.
Proper regulation is a difficult line to walk, will never be perfect, and needs continuous adjustment-- but boy oh boy is it deeply necessary. There will always be some among us who are too easily taken advantage of, and part of social responsibility is limiting the amount of damage those situations cause.
[OP] propublica_ | 8 hours ago
Since 2018, when the Supreme Court allowed states to legalize sports betting, Americans have put more than $600 billion into play. Sports betting is now legal in 39 states and D.C. Add in prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, and more people are betting on sports than ever before.
But that explosive growth has brought consequences: a recent survey found that about a quarter of active sportsbook account holders said they’d lost enough on a bet that they’d have trouble meeting their financial obligations.
Amid mounting scrutiny, DraftKings has pushed back, arguing that their “responsible gaming” system provides adequate safeguards to protect their customers from spiraling out of control.
So ProPublica reporter Jake Pearson decided to put that to the test: If he bet like a compulsive gambler, would DraftKings stop him?
Spoiler alert: No.
Over the next 10 weeks, he’d learn just how much DraftKings would encourage his recklessness — and just how little pushback he’d get as he spiraled downward.
Here’s how it all went down: https://www.propublica.org/article/draftkings-sports-gambling-problem-vip-fanduel
Lori Kalani, DraftKing’s chief responsible gaming officer, said if a customer waves too many red flags, the company will proactively close the account, though DraftKings declined to say how many times they’ve done so.
In a statement, DraftKings noted that all employees are trained on responsible gaming every year and that it is “embedded across our business and essential to DraftKings’ long-term sustainability.”
—
We’re still reporting on this topic. If you use apps like DraftKings or FanDuel or have experience in the gambling industry, you can help us with our reporting by either sharing your transaction history with us or by contacting Jake Pearson at jake.pearson@propublica.org.
FeatherlyFly | 3 hours ago
The worst thing about online gambling is that you can't escape it. If you're a addict, it uses to be that most people had to make a deliberate trip to a casino, and that was usually far enough that you couldn't go daily. The addiction was a real problem but you could set up your life to minimize temptation and exposure.
Now? It's in your pocket. And it's on a device that you're pretty much expected to have with you at all times, at home or out and about.
You can remove the app, but it's only a few taps away from being downloaded again.
It's messed up to force addicts to be constantly exposed to such massive temptation.
I used to live in Vegas and the casinos were depressing places, surrounded by pawn shops and check cashing outfits, and if you went in during the day, people just staring at the slot machines like it was their job. It's a terrible place for a gambling addict to live because your addiction is never more than a short drive away, and you probably pass a casino on your way home from work. Online is worse.
sprashoo | 6 hours ago
To me this sounds like a tobacco company saying they promote responsible smoking.
MarvinTraveler | 3 hours ago
This is a really good article, with data tracking in real time how these companies entice very risky financial behavior, pretty much like digital drug dealers.
They have the data, they know their main source of profits comes from addicts, and they couldn’t care less about the lives being destroyed by tier apps.
The hooker selling herself at the corner has more integrity than the people running these companies. This is a huge problem that will cause huge damage before its “tabaco moment” arrives, if such a thing ever happens.
MrTacoMan | 7 hours ago
This is bad, of course, but it isn’t limited to gambling. It’s basically every legal vice.
Go drink at our local bar every night and run up a $100 tab each time, you’ll start getting free drinks and preferential treatment.
Go buy 5 rolls of zyns and you can use the ‘points’ they give you to get part of a grill or iPad paid for.
aceshighsays | 6 hours ago
what's most vicious about online gambling is that you can literally do it 24/7. it's 3am and you can't sleep? how about i gamble, sitting on a public toilet constipated? i've got nothing else to do, let's gamble.
i don't know what zyns are, but the bar example has restrictions. you have to get out of your house and go there and the bar isn't open 24/7. that already limits your compulsion. and yes you could start drinking at home, but again you still need to leave your house to get it or order online and wait for it to come. online gambling removes all these barriers.
ObviousExit9 | 6 hours ago
Comped meals and rooms at the casino…the house knows who pays and they want them to come back. Honestly, I think it’s an interesting difference compared to the prediction markets, where there isn’t really a ‘house’ to bet against
amusedmb715 | 6 hours ago
that's what they have to say to keep themselves legal. how different are their spreads compared to vegas?
ObviousExit9 | 5 hours ago
My understanding is that they don’t set a spread. The odds are determined by how other people are betting, which I understand to be somewhat different than the house setting the spread.
Goodlake | 2 hours ago
Pick a binary bet of your choice and look at the costs of yes + no. They exceed $1 because that’s how polymarket makes their money. The market sets the prices of bets but there’s a vig.
Legitimate_Aspect923 | 3 hours ago
The way they get around gambling regulations is by not setting the spreads themselves: because the spreads are generated by the way people bet they count as financial instruments. I suspect they converge to Vegas spreads for a lot of things because people tend to trust professional oddsmakers
sarkarati | 3 hours ago
The difference with those are that you have to actually leave their house and go to these places to enjoy the benefits. With online gambling it can instead be done literally every single day from the couch.
Edit: sorry I see that u/aceshighsays made the exact same point. Very appropriate username by the way lol
FesteringNeonDistrac | 2 hours ago
There was Camel Cash and Marlboro Miles back in the day. It was actually pretty nice stuff. I've got some Marlboro swag I got from the distributor back in the 90s that I still use. A leather toiletries bag that's been around the world 20 times and still looks nearly new.
aceshighsays | 6 hours ago
wow. this is so fucked up. specifically the pattern of giving you pop ups re "responsible gambling", and when you decline, giving you discounts to bet more.
drkpie | 6 hours ago
Idk, these companies need to be accountable, but so do people participating. You have to actively go to these sites/apps and register in the first place.
The amount of ads that play during sports that I watch don’t make me want to gamble. Same with the alcohol ads they spam, they don’t make me want to drink either. It makes me dislike them lol.
People downvoting don’t understand personal responsibility, what a surprise.
Positronic_Matrix | 6 hours ago
Predatory corporations are inherently unethical and thus should not be permitted to exist in a just society. If Draft Kings could actually operate ethically then and only then could we talk about personal responsibility.
weealex | 6 hours ago
Ads may not affect you, but they have an effect. Otherwise companies wouldn't bother producing them. And let me tell you, if you're into something with possible gambling, there are endless ads for it. I'm into horse racing and when i go to the track or watch a race online, I'm inundated with direct ads for gambling and constant streams of info regarding current odds, which horses are value bets, etc etc. I was actually shocked when I watched the US Gold Cup and they had long segments on non- gambling topics. Regardless, once your foot is in the door, there's constant pressure to bet
drkpie | 6 hours ago
Like I mentioned, the amount of ads that play during sports I watch don’t make me gamble. I watch UFC and even the fighters shout out the gambling services, segments where they talk about parlays, statistics, and betting favourites that I don’t care about. You still have to actually go to the site or app and register to gamble. That is all on the person to do so.
Seriously, no personal accountability in these replies.
I hate these dumb ads but there is still an initial conscious choice to participate in gambling.
idiotsecant | 6 hours ago
It's fine to call for personal responsibility, as long as you realize it's actual virtue signaling and also that it's useless. Nobody just read that post and made a chemistry-altering change to their brain.
If you legalize gambling a certain number of lives will be destroyed by gambling. Is it worth it so that we have the freedums to gamble? Who knows. It just is.
frostysauce | 25 minutes ago
What you are doing is 100% victim blaming.
The article said HALF of men 18-48 have a sports betting account. That's not half that population with some sort of moral failing or misunderstanding of consequences. That's the result of predatory actions by these betting companies. The unavoidable ads in person and on every single sports broadcast in the US, and the manipulation once people are on the platforms is a type of psychological warfare almost no one is equipped to stand up to.
I'm very happy for you that you were able to resist getting hooked on gambling. Good job. But you must understand not everyone's experience is going to be exactly like yours. You need to learn to see things from the perspective of other people, even if that perspective seems distasteful to you at first.
slfnflctd | 6 hours ago
Balancing freedom and personal responsibility against those who would rig whatever system they can in their favor is the eternal vigilance of effective government in a nutshell.
Proper regulation is a difficult line to walk, will never be perfect, and needs continuous adjustment-- but boy oh boy is it deeply necessary. There will always be some among us who are too easily taken advantage of, and part of social responsibility is limiting the amount of damage those situations cause.