A new lawsuit has been filed against DraftKings, claiming the company’s “defective product” creates gambling addicts. Dane Miller, a 32-year-old resident of Illinois, gambled over $2 million on the platform and says his gambling addiction left him suicidal.
Miller began gambling in 2020 when he was 26 years old. “Despite initially starting with small wagers and straight bets, the number and volume of wagers Miller placed on DraftKings quickly escalated – particularly as Miller transitioned into parlays and live betting,” says the complaint.
DraftKings assigned him a VIP host in 2021, sending him promotions, bonuses, and tickets to sporting events to keep him engaged and gambling on the site.
“The constant prompts, access, and live-feeds, along with the rapid-fire pace of bets and the personalized attention directed to Miller, fueled an addiction that eventually consumed all aspects of Miller’s life,” the lawsuit adds.
Like a previous lawsuit against DraftKings, the complaint alleges that the company’s expansion of microbetting, such as on the next pitch in a baseball match, is particularly dangerous, encouraging users, such as Miller, to develop gambling disorders.
Miller Took Out Loans & Lost Job as Gambling Escalated
From opening his account in October 2020 to self-excluding in December 2024, Miller wagered over $2 million at DraftKings.
The complaint does not state how much of this he lost, but says he “secured personal loans, credit cards, 401k loans, and used his wedding money to fund his frequent online sports betting.”
His wagering reached a critical point in late 2024. In September, his employer determined that his constant sports betting was a problem and terminated his employment. His father urged him to self-exclude from DraftKings, but he refused.
A month later, he wrote a suicide note and was admitted to Northwest Community Hospital with suicidal ideation. A doctor diagnosed him with severe gambling disorder, anxiety, and depression.
After his release from the facility in November, he quickly relapsed and began gambling again. Only after he was readmitted to the hospital in December did he eventually self-exclude.
Arguments Hard to Win in Court, Say Lawyers
The lawsuit focuses on the addictive design of DraftKings’ product and the company’s use of VIP hosts who encouraged Miller to continue gambling.
It says that DraftKings knows that the gamification of its platform increases the risk that users develop a gambling problem. Despite this knowledge, it has added features that accelerate, rather than slow down, problem gambling.
The addictive design argument is a hard one to win in court, according to legal firm White & Case. Lawyers Michael Andolina and Markus Funk told me recently that “personal responsibility is not a product defect.”
“Adult gamblers have always known that they are engaging in an activity with well-known risks,” added the lawyers. “Therefore, each wager, especially with real-time loss information and access to self-exclusion tools, constitutes evidence of voluntary, informed participation.”
Prior Rulings Favor DraftKings
In prior cases, judges have frequently ruled that gambling companies do not owe a duty of care to compulsive gamblers.
In March, a judge in Pennsylvania dismissed another lawsuit against DraftKings, stating, “The Court finds that DraftKings has no duty of care to protect Plaintiffs from spending too much money or from developing or fueling a gambling addiction.”
A judge in the UK similarly ruled against a gambler who lost over $2 million betting on Betfair, stating he was “determined to gamble” and even if the company had intervened, he would have bet elsewhere.
DraftKings may make the same argument, given Miller continued to gamble despite his employer and father raising concerns about his betting.
Illinois Lawmakers Cashing in On Gambling Addicts
Gamblers in Illinois lost over $7.7 billion last year, and the state has to be held accountable, according to another gambling addict.
“There’s a responsibility of the state to protect the people,” a bettor identified only as Reeve L. told Capitol City Now this week. “I think there has to be a responsibility of the state to know how many lives are being destroyed, and not even that person, but the lives around them, the divorce rates, the people not going out and spending money at restaurants or anything that is now going to sports gambling. It’s a billion-dollar industry — that money is being taken away from somewhere in Illinois.”
A lot of the money is going back to the state. Illinois lawmakers have targeted gambling companies with tax increases in the last few years, including an unprecedented per-bet fee introduced last year.
The surcharge was originally estimated to generate $40 million for the 2025-26 fiscal year, but it is on track to nearly triple that amount. It has already provided $105.4 million to state coffers with two months remaining, as noted by Chris Altruda in the Straight to the Point newsletter.
But it is not the gambling companies that are paying the fee. DraftKings directly passes the charge onto users, meaning Illinois bettors have to pay $0.50 for every wager they place.
Initially, this led to a reduction in bets placed but an increase in betting handle. While casual bettors may have stopped placing small-stakes wagers, compulsive gamblers, like Miller, may have increased their stakes.
DraftKings does not appear to have violated any of Illinois’ state gambling laws, and its “regulatory compliance is the strongest defense,” said Funk and Andolina.
If it can also show that it is making efforts, however futile, to promote responsible gaming, then Miller faces a struggle to get anywhere with this lawsuit.
