Three members of Congress have called on FanDuel to shut down its VIP rewards programme and demanded that Major League Baseball and the players' union restrict athlete participation in sportsbook advertising. The pressure follows the case of Terry Thompson, a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania resident who lost $1.5 million betting with FanDuel. In 2024, a VIP manager at the operator sent him a personalised video greeting from Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper.
Harper said he recorded the 21-second message through Cameo and did not know FanDuel would use it as a reward for a bettor. Senator Richard Blumenthal and Representatives Paul D. Tonko and Valerie P. Foushee sent letters to MLB Commissioner Robert D. Manfred and acting MLBPA Executive Director Bruce Meyer. They describe the lack of restrictions on gambling-related promotional work as a 'systemic failure' and point to the 'deep entanglement' between leagues, clubs and sportsbooks. Both organisations must answer questions about their partnerships with betting operators.
MLB's current collective bargaining agreement expires in December. It allows players to appear in advertisements for casinos, racetracks and sportsbooks, provided they do not encourage betting on baseball specifically. According to ESPN, the MLBPA is pushing in negotiations for greater freedom for players to endorse sportsbooks and prediction markets. For operators, that means the usual model of ambassadors from active rosters may become more expensive and complicated.
In a letter to FanDuel CEO Christian Genetski, the lawmakers demanded the company end its VIP programme and set a deadline of 24 August to answer eight questions. Among them: whether VIP managers send clients videos from other athletes and celebrities, and whether the company monitors such offers to prevent them reaching problem gamblers. FanDuel said it uses a monitoring system and 'trained professionals' to help clients showing signs of harmful behaviour. A lawsuit filed in March by the Public Health Advocacy Institute against FanDuel and DraftKings claims Thompson also received VIP perks from DraftKings, including champagne and tickets to two Super Bowls. According to the suit, he planned to kill himself this year to avoid disclosing the scale of his losses to his family.
