Former DraftKings employees say the sportsbook built an internal AI-driven system to decide which customers should receive betting promotions, including bettors likely to keep spending after taking a loss, according to a New York Times investigation.
The company reportedly relied on a metric called “elasticity” to estimate whether a promotional offer would push a customer to place more bets.
“Is this person going to give us more than we’re giving them?” former DraftKings data analyst Jayden Butts told the Times. “And if the answer is yes, open the floodgates.”
Six former employees who worked on the system told the paper they now regret their role in building it.
“It is as predatory as it sounds,” one former analyst said. “If you lose more, we give you more, so you keep playing more.”
DraftKings disputed the characterization. The company told the Times its promotions are “directed toward customers who demonstrate sustained, engaged use of our platform, not toward customers based on their losses.”
One Bettor’s Account
Bryan Biehl, one of the gamblers cited in the Times report, said he lost nearly $70,000 betting online, more than half of it through DraftKings. He said the company’s offers made it harder to stop after he began treatment for gambling addiction in late 2024. Emails reviewed by the newspaper showed he received 40 DraftKings promotions in the first two weeks of December that year.
“I would get flooded with bonuses and deposits,” Biehl said. “If you are in addiction, you are not going to say no.”
Biehl said he gambled again on Christmas Day before enrolling in self-exclusion programs that blocked him from betting apps. DraftKings declined to comment to the Times on his specific case.
A Risk Model That Was Shelved
The Times also reported that a separate team inside DraftKings developed a model designed to flag customers who might be at risk of developing gambling problems. The company ultimately dropped the project.
Lori Kalani, DraftKings’ chief responsible gaming officer, said the company chose not to use it because “we evaluated that it wasn’t evidence-based,” adding that its existing system was a “better methodology.”
The report has drawn criticism on social media, where users accused betting companies broadly of targeting customers after losses while restricting the accounts of those who win.
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