FanDuel being sued in Florida for "Double Your Deposit" promotion

[The Buzz]

One of the perks daily fantasy sports has in the U.S. is that it is clearly legal in most U.S. states, so it can be marketed nationally. One of the disadvantages is that you can run afoul of state laws.

FanDuel is being sued in Florida for offering players a "Double Your Deposit" bonus.

According to the plaintiffs in Carroll v. FanDuel, FanDuel released matching funds into customer accounts according to a formula based on the number of contests that new customers had entered. Under this formula, “a customer that made an initial depot for $200 will have to spend $5,000 in contest entry fees in order to receive FanDuel’s deposit bonus of $200.”

Allegations that such practices were deceptive and misleading serve as the crux of the legal complaint.

Full story from Forbes here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcedel...sit-promotion/

[TheGooner]

Yep - I'd agree that the bonus cannot be shortened to "double your deposit" in this case.

EDIT :
If the deposit was doubled immediately - and rollover restrictions placed on withdrawals - then I think that they could use the phrase.

[DanHorvat]

Geez. As if the cellulite treatments actually work.

[edgarf76]

It doesnt supprise me that they are being sued about that bonus, but if they spend the money to take it to trial I would think their attorneys would win based on their disclaimer. IMO they will end up settling out of court for an undisclosed amount. My two cents

Best Regards


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[universal4]

I understand the play on words etc, and 200 + 200 = 400 which is double the original deposit, but when I see double your deposit bonus I immediately assume that it meant what it says. We all know how hard it is to get new players to understand rollovers etc, and using the word double when it is not clearly spelled out is asking for trouble....

With the thinking the court is using and referring to that statute, I can not think of a single promotion ANY casino, bookie, bingo or poker room that would stand up against it.

The statute states that ”[a]ny item or portion of an item unconditionally offered as ‘free’ shall in fact be free, without obligation or requirement of consideration in any form.”

Every single bonus I know requires a "requirement of consideration".

I wonder if Fan Duel will need to change advertisements to remove and exclude the use of the word "free' concerning any promotions.

I am doubling Edgar's 2 cents and giving my three cents.

Rick
Universal4

(this reminds me of an old issue from years ago where a casino decided to add all the percentages up and claim they gave like an 800% or 900% bonus...1st deposit 200%, 2nd deposit 300%, 3rd 150%, 4th 150% or something like that)

[DanHorvat]

As if Snickers really changes you from Joan Collins to a dude.

I'm a law abiding citizen but I hate double standards. This is selective justice, targeting a hated niche, online gaming. You can sell people crap and make them eat it in other industries.

Next thing you know, we won't be able to use the term "win money" because winning is optional and not guaranteed.

[ocreditor]

Geez. As if the cellulite treatments actually work.

Haha

[muffincrumbs]

People make a living on "investing" in lawyers to make successful companies have to payout, especially in the medical and drug industries. When there is a ton of money everyone wants a piece and they are making hand over fist.

[TheGooner]

I wonder if Fan Duel will need to change advertisements to remove and exclude the use of the word "free' concerning any promotions.

We do well with Bet365 - and get good search spots - and recently (within the last year) had to work through our promotions with them to remove the phrase "free bet" and change to phrases like 100% matched deposit bonus in order to comply with UK advertising standards.

They'd had complaints made by customers to UK authorities with the same reasoning - that it was not actually free - and were taking a pro-active stance with larger affiliate partners to reduce further instances in the search engines.

I note that there are still a huge number of smaller sites that use "free bet" keywords for them, and also a number of UK bookmakers that are happy for us to use free bet term ... so it's clearly a fluid environment.

Oh - and so we all remember the TV adverts that offered a "free set of steak knives" or "buy one and get one free"?