As the American sports betting industry evolves, sportsbooks are realizing that they have a responsibility to spot — and to cut off — problem gamblers.
Via Xuan Thai and Don Van Natta Jr. of ESPN.com, FanDuel has agreed to pay the Jaguars roughly $5 million in compensation for nearly $20 million that former Jaguars employee Amit Patel stole from the team and deposited in his FanDuel account.
Per the report, the NFL encouraged the team and FanDuel to resolve the situation. One unnamed source told ESPN.com that FanDuel “was motivated to pay the Jaguars in the interest of being a good partner with the league.”
Yes, because FanDuel is an official betting partner of the NFL. And there’s only one NFL. If the NFL were to cut off FanDuel, FanDuel’s competitors would acquire an advantage.
Beyond the question of whether it’s good business to play nice with Big Shield, it’s also the right thing to do. (It would have been nice if that were the given reason for the payment.)
Patel, who was sentenced to 6.5 years in prison for wire fraud and illegal monetary transaction, has separately sued FanDuel, alleging that the company “exploited” his gambling addiction and deliberately ignored its procedures regarding responsible gaming and anti-money laundering.
The question is whether, and when, sportsbooks should realize that a customer is depositing money that isn’t his. And what they should do about it, when it happens.
When it comes to legalized gambling, the United States remains in its infancy. There aren’t enough regulations. There aren’t enough safeguards. The fact that Patel was able to deposit so much money — and that FanDuel willingly took it — shows that all sportsbooks need to have a “too good to be true” protocol that activates when someone is depositing money that they know or, in the exercise of reasonable diligence should know, isn’t his.
There’s no question that Patel broke the law. By not recognizing that something was amiss, FanDuel exacerbated the situation. All sportsbooks — FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and all others — should be doing more to prevent similar situations from unfolding.
Especially with the ongoing inundation of advertisements, both obvious and not-so-obvious, luring so many people to shoot their shot at getting rich quick.
