Three New Orleans sports bettors have sued FanDuel and DraftKings, claiming the companies built their betting apps to keep people wagering long after they start losing. The proposed class action, filed October 22 in Orleans Parish Civil District Court, says the apps track each user’s betting habits and use that data to send bonuses, deposit matches and push notifications that draw problem gamblers back in.
The lawsuit treats the apps the way families in the social media addiction lawsuits treat Instagram and TikTok: as products that are allegedly defective because of how they are designed, not just because of what people do with them.
What the lawsuit claims
According to the petition, nearly every sports bettor loses money over time, so the sportsbooks’ business depends on keeping losing customers in the game. The plaintiffs allege the companies do that with features they describe as “part of the algorithm created to intentionally addict the user,” used to “target problem gamblers, especially those with continued losses.”
The features the lawsuit points to include:
- Personalized “bonus bets” and deposit matches based on each user’s betting history
- Push notifications and targeted ads that arrive during games, even when the app is closed
- Live, in-game betting on single plays or pitches, which the petition compares to slot machines
- VIP hosts, game tickets and other perks for the heaviest bettors
- Deposit limits and self-exclusion settings that, the plaintiffs allege, the apps let users get around
The petition quotes DraftKings’ own annual report, which describes using data science and machine learning to “acquire, retain and reactivate users” and recommendation engines that suggest bets “based upon their past play history.”
The plaintiffs bring claims under the Louisiana Products Liability Act, along with breach of contract, negligent misrepresentation over “risk-free” and “No Sweat” promotions, and other state law claims. They ask for a refund of the money class members deposited minus what they withdrew, damages for anxiety and depression, the cost of treatment for gambling disorder, and a jury trial.
The three bettors
The petition describes a 43-year-old man who started using FanDuel in October 2023 after seeing friends bet on it. He says he has wagered $88,716.27, lost $25,728.10 and took out a bank loan to pay his betting debts, and that ads and push notifications keep coming during the football and basketball games he watches.
A 29-year-old woman says she started betting on both apps at 21 after seeing their ads on Instagram and X. She says FanDuel lets her go past the $200 limit alert she often sets, and that she deposited more than $22,000 on that app alone in two years. A third bettor says she has bet about $32,000 on FanDuel and $37,000 on DraftKings and keeps a separate phone just for email and the betting apps.
Why two casinos are also defendants
In Louisiana, each mobile sportsbook operates under a license held by a casino, according to the petition. The lawsuit names Amelia Belle Casino, whose license FanDuel operates under, and Bally’s Baton Rouge, which holds the license for DraftKings, and claims the casinos had a duty to supervise the apps running under their licenses.
Part of a wider fight over addictive design
Louisiana is not the first place sportsbooks have faced these claims. In March 2026, the Public Health Advocacy Institute filed a similar lawsuit in Philadelphia on behalf of two Pennsylvania bettors against FanDuel, DraftKings, the NFL and the league’s data partner, Genius Sports, over in-game “microbets.”
The same design arguments are at the center of the video game addiction lawsuits and the social media cases now going to trial. Parents following those cases can find plain-language updates on netlitigation.com.
Most addictive design cases, including the social media cases, are mass torts, where each person keeps an individual claim. This one is filed as a class action, where a few people sue on behalf of everyone in a defined group. LegalScoops explains the difference in Mass Tort vs Class Action Explained in Plain English. The full class action petition is available online.
Common Questions
Who is being sued?
The petition names DK Crown Holdings, which does business as DraftKings; FanDuel and its parent company, Flutter Entertainment; and two Louisiana casinos whose sports betting licenses the apps operate under, Amelia Belle Casino (FanDuel) and Bally’s Baton Rouge (DraftKings).
Where was the lawsuit filed?
In Orleans Parish Civil District Court in New Orleans on October 22, 2026, as case number 26-09867, Division A. The plaintiffs have asked for a jury trial.
Who would be in the class?
The petition proposes a class of Louisiana residents who opened an account, deposited money and used the FanDuel or DraftKings app, with a separate group for each company. A judge has not certified any class, so for now the case belongs only to the three people who filed it.
How have the companies responded?
A FanDuel spokesperson told the Louisiana Record the claims are “not just false but completely untethered from reality” and pointed to the deposit limits, timeouts and self-exclusion tools the app offers.
