One of the biggest online gaming operators in the world of sports betting, DraftKings Inc., is the centre of a class-action lawsuit filed by a Texas resident for unlawfully deactivating user accounts.
Eric Avila, a Texas resident, filed the class action lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts, stating that in August 2024, DraftKings Inc. deactivated his account despite having $100 on his balance.
Avila claims that the reason for shutting down his account cited by the company was a “violation of terms and conditions.”
According to Draft Kings, the termination of the account was justified as Avila allegedly operated multiple accounts, allegations that the plaintiff denies and argues that the operator provided no evidence to support these claims.
Moreover, Avila is adamant that DraftKings has done a “catch-22”, consequently blocking hit out of his account while at the same time preventing him from withdrawing the remaining funds from his balance.
As per the details of the lawsuit, this practice by Draft Kings is a repeating pattern, as allegedly the sports betting platform makes millions of dollars from players with deactivated accounts under identical circumstances.
Eric Avila said:
Users cannot withdraw funds from their DraftKings account because DraftKings has decided the users do not have a DraftKings account.
The class-action lawsuit filed by Avila is in the process of seeking thousands of allegedly similarly affected users who didn’t have any recourse after DraftKings deactivated their accounts.
Avila states that by doing this, DraftKings breached its own contractual obligations, pointing out the terms and conditions of the company that guarantee players’ ability to request a withdrawal of their funds at any given time.
*Interesting fact: Believe it or not, this class action by Avila is the third high-profile court case against DraftKings in less than a month.
Namely, Lisa D’Alessandro also filed a class action lawsuit against DraftKings, claiming that her estranged husband has reportedly lost nearly $1 million playing at DraftKings, alleging that the operator took advantage of her husband’s gambling addiction by inviting him to join a VIP Club.
According to D’Allessandro, DraftKings has allegedly bankrupted her family by incentivizing excessive gambling.
The third class action currently against DraftKings alleges that the operator illegally shared user data with third parties such as Facebook. Reportedly, DraftKings is accused of sharing detailed information about their players, viewing habits, and gambling behaviours without their consent.
As per the details of the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, this practice violated federal privacy laws, specifically the Video Privacy Protection Act.
As these lawsuits unfold, the giant DraftKings is under scrutiny and constant pressure to address the accusations.
