Flutter Entertainment-owned FanDuel is facing a class action lawsuit in the US state of Illinois after a customer claimed the operator was intentionally delaying real-time scoring data to cause players to lose money.
In the lawsuit filed with Illinois District Court, plaintiff Andrew Melnick, alleged that when placing in-play bets on college basketball games via the FanDuel mobile app, real-time information on the games was not accurate.
He had primarily wagered on ‘totals’ and ‘unders’, betting that the combined score of the two teams would be less than a certain amount by the end of the game in question.
Melnick claimed after losing $50 of the $100 he had deposited, he discovered the real-time information provided by FanDuel was “repeatedly false and materially so”.
According to Melnick, FanDuel “understated” the amount of time elapsed in the games, while the live scores were not up to date when he placed a bet, which in turn impacted the outcome of his wagers.
Melnick said these “deceptive, dishonest and unfair pattern and practices” had led to hundreds of thousands of other FanDuel customers losing millions of dollars in unsuccessful bets.
As a result, Melnick, who tried and failed to get a refund on his bets by contacting the FanDuel customer support team, is seeking refunds for both himself and any other customers impacted by the alleged data delay.
The claim applies to customers in all states where FanDuel is active, including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Tennessee, Colorado and Virginia, as well as Illinois.
FanDuel is yet to respond to the claims and the case remains ongoing.