Promotional fliers advertising sports betting are seen Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Jefferson City, Mo. (AP Photo/David A. Lieb) Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper recently found himself in hot water for doing something many celebrities do: making a personalized video for a fan.
The video, however, wasn’t for an ordinary fan. It was commissioned by a FanDuel “VIP host” as a reward for Terry Thompson, a customer who eventually lost more than $1.5 million on the sportsbook’s app.
Harper later said he never consented to FanDuel’s logo appearing in the video and would not have participated had he known it would be used to promote gambling. But the episode revealed something far more troubling than an unauthorized logo. It exposed how VIP programs are used to unfairly hustle the online sportsbooks’ biggest losers.
Congress should start with this story to understand how these gambling apps keep problem gamblers on the hook.
At FanDuel and DraftKings, your losing streak is their revenue stream. Unlike prediction markets, which encourage traders to compete against each other, sportsbooks are the “house,” so they are fully vested in how their customers perform.
Winners are quickly shown the door — they can actually be restricted or banned just for demonstrating a basic level of skill. But losers get the red-carpet treatment. Customers like Thompson who can’t buy a win are encouraged to keep betting, and often at increasing amounts. Some gambling apps will even deploy sophisticated algorithms to target those who keep reaching for their wallet with specialized promotions.
That’s especially true of big losers. Customers prone to depositing large amounts of money and chasing losses on longshot parlays at terrible odds are critical to building a sportsbook’s bankroll. For example, a 2024 study from the Journal of Gambling Studies found that, in Britain, the top 10 percent of losers by amount lost accounted for nearly 80 percent of a gambling website’s revenue.
To keep these customers coming back, sportsbooks sweeten the pot. That means personalized and escalating bonuses based on a customer’s betting history, dedicated hosts who are willing to communicate with the customer all day and night and other gifts and rewards to show the sportsbook’s appreciation.
Congratulations. Welcome to the VIP program.
FanDuel, DraftKings and other online sportsbooks may have learned these exploitative tactics from the brick-and-mortar casinos, but they are far better at it. A casino has to lure you through its doors. A sportsbook app rides around in your pocket. According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, 22 percent of sports bettors who placed bets on a mobile device reported problem gambling, compared to 11 percent of “land-based” bettors who typically gamble inside casinos.
To FanDuel, Thompson was an ATM. A rival sportsbook would do almost anything to poach him, so he warranted the investment. That’s how VIP programs work. They don’t just offer frequent flyer miles to loyal customers. They’re not just deposit bonuses or profit boosts. VIP gamblers feel as though they are living the high life — expensive dinners, concert tickets, trips to the Super Bowl or the NBA Playoffs and, yes, even personalized messages from celebrities.
But there’s no such thing as a free steak when you’re losing a fortune.
When the inevitable happens — the checking accounts are drained, the credit cards are maxed, the mortgage is foreclosed and you hit rock bottom — the attention suddenly dries up. The gifts stop coming in the mail. The gambler is left broke, broken and alone. Thompson reportedly entered a gambling addiction treatment facility. In March, he sued FanDuel and DraftKings, accusing them of causing his addiction.
Congress has hauled Big Tobacco, Big Tech and Big Pharma before the cameras. Now it’s time to put the online sportsbooks in the hot seat.
Lawmakers should have plenty of questions to ask. How do these companies identify their most valuable customers in the first place? What data determines who qualifies for VIP status? Do their algorithms flag customers who are showing signs of problem gambling? How much of FanDuel’s and DraftKings’ revenue comes from VIP players? And why does a customer who wins too often get limited while a customer who loses too often gets assigned a personal host?
States were supposed to serve as the laboratories of democracy after the Supreme Court opened the door to legalized sports betting, but the gambling interests proved too powerful. Now, states have become laboratories for increasingly sophisticated forms of consumer exploitation.
Congress has been sitting on the sidelines long enough. It should prohibit sportsbooks from using VIP hosts, personalized inducements or behavioral algorithms to encourage customers exhibiting signs of excessive gambling to keep betting. If a sportsbook believes it has the right to limit customers who occasionally beat the house, it should not have the right to shower customers who consistently lose with perks designed to keep them chasing losses.
Sports betting itself isn’t on trial. A business model built around identifying, cultivating and rewarding the customers who lose the most is. Sportsbooks should be required to treat all customers fairly — either take bets from everyone on equal terms or take bets from no one at all.
Jon Schweppe is a senior adviser to the American Principles Project and a former senior policy adviser at the Federal Trade Commission. Follow on X: @JonSchweppe
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