The gaming regulator for New Jersey has reportedly penalized American online sportsbetting giant DraftKings Incorporated to the tune of $150,000 after discovering that it had illicitly allowed an out-of-state punter to lodge a proxy wager.
According to a Thursday report from the Associated Press news service, the case centered around an unidentified Florida-based man who is known to regularly place large wagers often surpassing up to $50,000. This gambler purportedly opened an account with DraftKings Incorporated in 2019 and was subsequently caught lodging bets via this service through a friend located in New Jersey.
Incriminating evidence:
The sanction from the New Jersey Division of Gambling Enforcement reportedly came after geolocation systems showed that the offending bettor’s account had been accessed from Florida only a few minutes after being utilized in New Jersey, which are locales separated by well over 1,000 miles. Although DraftKings Incorporated issued the pair with a written warning, it nevertheless is additionally said to have later verbally advised the perpetrators that they could carry on placing proxy bets so long as they separated their individual logins by at least two hours.
Damning suspicion:
Perhaps most worrying and the New Jersey watchdog reportedly asserted that the Florida-based bettor had moreover watched Super Bowl LIV from a DraftKings Incorporated suite situated inside Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium while wagering on the action before him through his friend in the presence of and with the knowledge of company figures. The Boston-headquartered sports wagering behemoth purportedly received its New Jersey online sportsbetting license in August of 2018 through a partnership with Atlantic City’s 942-room Resorts Casino Hotel property.
Adjacent action:
The New Jersey Division of Gambling Enforcement reportedly disclosed that the two sportsbettors had furthermore utilized the same arrangement to lodge wagers in the neighboring jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, where DraftKings Incorporated has been licensed since April of 2020. But the operator is purportedly thought to have suspended the Florida-based offender’s facility for ‘The Keystone State’ only six months later after uncovering his shenanigans.
Supplemental steps:
Alongside agreeing to pay the hefty fine, DraftKings Incorporated has reportedly also agreed to undertake a series of ‘corrective actions’ including voiding 21 pending wagers from the Florida-based punter, closing his New Jersey account for good and embarking on a campaign to better train its staff at recognizing and preventing such unlawful activities.
Reportedly read a Thursday statement from DraftKings Incorporated…
“We strive to continuously improve our systems to detect violations of our terms of use. In this instance, our systems failed to detect the violation of our terms of use and we have taken corrective action to address that.”