Wife hits back
The wife of an estranged husband, who she claims stole her money to gamble, has filed a lawsuit against DraftKings accusing the Boston-based sportsbook of “nurturing” his costly addiction.
husband lost almost $1m via DraftKings Sportsbook
Lisa D’Alessandro filed the suit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey after her estranged husband lost almost $1m via DraftKings Sportsbook.
D’Alessando accused the sportsbook of enticing her husband, identified in court papers only by his DraftKings username Mdallo1990, to gamble more despite knowing of his addiction to betting.
According to the Independent, D’Alessando alleges Mdallo bankrolled his habit by “maxing out her credit cards and draining their young childrens’ savings accounts.”
Feeding an addiction?
Mdallo’s wife, 32, alleges DraftKings “actively participated” in exacerbating his gambling problem, coercing Mdallo into betting “exponentially higher amounts,” with increasing regularity until he was completely addicted.
According to court papers Mdallo started betting with DraftKings in 2020 but never wagered over $3,775 in a single month. Fast-forward to 2023 and Mdallo was allegedly betting as much as $125,000 a month.
sportsbook mines user data to pinpoint potentially lucrative prospects
D’Alessandro alleges, however, that the increase in her husband’s betting activity was strategically fueled by DraftKings. The mother of two’s complaint stated the “sportsbook mines user data to pinpoint potentially lucrative prospects” and that it targeted Mdallo.
D’Alessandro claimed DraftKings invited Mdallo to join a private VIP betting group, plus assigned a team of “VIP Hosts” to him in order to “extract as much money” from him as possible.
According to media reports, DraftKings allegedly knew Mdallo was a problem gambler, because it communicated to him almost daily by telephone, text, or email.
D’Alessandro alleges if DraftKings had exercised due diligence, it would have noticed Mdallo was at times wagering over four times his $175,000 annual income.
The suit also alleges Mdallo’s VIP handlers “were instructed and/or incentivized” to not offer gambling addiction help to customers who exhibited symptoms of that compulsion.
Upping the freebie ante
D’Alessandro also outlined how DraftKings allegedly incentivized Mdallo by plying him with trophies, gifts, free bets, and credits to cover his losses so he ended up “depositing money and gambling at levels far beyond his means.”
D’Alessandro’s attorney, Matthew Lit stated: “You think you’re building a nest egg for yourself and your family, and it turns out it’s gone.”
the rest of it is just gone.”
“This was a middle-class family. A lot of it remains on a credit card, and the rest of it is just gone.”