Last updated: December 16, 2024
Lisa D’Alessandro has filed a lawsuit against DraftKings in New Jersey, claiming the platform enabled her husband’s gambling addiction, leading him to steal nearly $15 million.
In a New Jersey state court complaint, Lisa D’Alessandro alleges that her husband misappropriated funds from both her and their two children to feed his habit. She also claims DraftKings “nursed” his addiction and encouraged it to spiral out of control.
The husband, identified only in court documents by his DraftKings username, “Mdallo1990,” played games on the platform amounting to almost $15 million from 2020 to January 2024. Mdallo1990 tapped credit cards and children’s savings accounts whose balances have been topped off by monetary gifts received during Christmas, birthdays, and baptisms.
In the first year he played at DraftKings, Mdallo1990 never wagered more than $3,775 in a single month. By 2023, that had swelled to $125,000 a month, more than 70 percent of his annual income, the complaint states.
The plaintiff claims that Mdallo1990 “actively participated” in aggravating her husband’s gambling addiction, egging him to bet “exponentially higher amounts” until all their assets were depleted, the lawsuit alleges.
The class action suit claims that DraftKings mines user data to find the most potentially lucrative customers. According to this, the sportsbook targeted Mdello1990 and invited him to join its “VIP Private Group”.
According to the complaint, a group of VIP hosts was assigned to the bettor with the aim of “getting as much money” from him as possible.
The plaintiff alleges that these hosts rewarded Mdallo1990 with incentives, which included free bets and credits meant to offset his losses, as well as “gifts and trophies” awarded for wagering beyond his financial capabilities.
By 2022, he had attained “Onyx Elite level status” that, according to him, brought him “an all-expense-paid free holiday and a ‘suite of high-end Apple products amongst other merchandise'”.
The lawsuit states that, since VIP hosts communicate with Mdallo1990 almost daily, they should have known that he is a problem gambler and that he has other obligations in life, namely a family. The suit further claims that DraftKings employees are taught to recognize signs of problem gambling, but they failed to act appropriately in this regard when dealing with this player. According to the directives of anti-money laundering, the employees of DraftKings are required to request the high rollers for the verification of the source of their money; however, plaintiff claims that they did not abide by that policy about Mdallo1990.
The VIP agents did not request bank or tax statements from their protégé as they knew that he would not be able to continue to deposit such large sums of money on its site if they required a verification. This is attributed to their knowing that “the source of the money wagered by Mdallo1990 was illegitimate,” as the complaint alleges.
This case echoes a similar lawsuit filed last year by gambler Sam A. Antar against BetMGM, where the court ruled that casinos have no legal duty to prevent or stop inducing gambling from individuals exhibiting problem behaviors. The outcome of D’Alessandro’s case may further challenge the gaming industry’s accountability for problem gambling.
Antar, who was sentenced to three years in jail in 2022 after pleading guilty to robbing $794,000 for gambling purposes, claimed that BetMGM operated negligently and was enriching itself wrongly by continued “inducements to gamble.”. That court found that the New Jersey Casino Control Act “does not require casinos to prevent or stop inducing gambling from those that exhibit problem gambling behavior.” She also found that “the casino owed the plaintiff no negligence common law duty of care.”
