DFS players turning to the courts and against operators

Further bad news appears to have reached FanDuel and DraftKings operations, as US news sources report that aggrieved customers are planning to sue the operators for consumer negligence, following last week’s allegation of data breaches by employees.

New York Daily News reported that Kentucky Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) player Adam Johnson was the first plantiff against the operators, accusing them of misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, false advertising and consumer negligence.

The plantiffs representatives have argued that the player would have not deposited on the sites, had he known that the competing operators allowed their employees to play on each other’s DFS products.

The suit filed with the Southern District Court of New York, claims that both DraftKings and FanDuel misrepresented their brands to consumers.

“Because the goal is to beat the other players, a player with statistical data about ownership percentages of competitors would have an edge over players without this data in many ways, including the ability to make rosters with enough players different from competitors’ rosters,” claims the suit.

With DFS data conflict gaining mass media coverage, DraftKings and FanDuel have moved to amend employee polices on the matter. Employees of both operators have been banned from playing on competitor DFS products.

FanDuel further informed in a statement that it was in the process of creating an internal board advisory led by Michael Garcia, former Attorney of the New York Southern District.