Ex-Jaguars worker who stole $22M from team sues FanDuel, saying it preyed on his gambling addiction
By WAYNE PARRY
Posted 10/1/24
A former financial manager for the NFL’s Jacksonville Jaguars who stole $22 million from the team is suing FanDuel for $250 million, saying the betting company preyed on his gambling addiction. …
You must be a member to read this story.
Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.
Current print subscribers can create a free account by clicking here
Otherwise, follow the link below to join.
To Our Valued Readers –
Visitors to our website will be limited to five stories per month unless they opt to subscribe. The five stories do not include our exclusive content written by our journalists.
For $6.99, less than 20 cents a day, digital subscribers will receive unlimited access to YourValley.net, including exclusive content from our newsroom and access to our Daily Independent e-edition.
Our commitment to balanced, fair reporting and local coverage provides insight and perspective not found anywhere else.
Your financial commitment will help to preserve the kind of honest journalism produced by our reporters and editors. We trust you agree that independent journalism is an essential component of our democracy. Please click here to subscribe.
Need to set up your free e-Newspaper all-access account? click here.
Non-subscribers
Click here to see your options for becoming a subscriber.
Register to comment
Click here create a free account for posting comments.
Note that free accounts do not include access to premium content on this site.
I am anchor
Ex-Jaguars worker who stole $22M from team sues FanDuel, saying it preyed on his gambling addiction
FILE - Jacksonville Jaguars helmet during an NFL football game Dec. 4, 2022, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Rick Osentoski)
Posted
By WAYNE PARRY
A former financial manager for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars who stole $22 million from the team is suing FanDuel for $250 million, saying the betting company preyed on his gambling addiction.
Amit Patel, who is serving a 6 1/2-year prison sentence in South Carolina, filed a lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in New York claiming that FanDuel ignored its own responsible gambling and anti-money laundering protocols, knew Patel was an employee of the NFL team and therefore not eligible to gamble legally, and knew that the $20 million he wagered on years of daily fantasy sports contests was either stolen or not from a legitimate source.
FanDuel declined comment, citing the pending litigation.
The lawsuit claimed FanDuel gave Patel over $1.1 million in gambling credits, and besieged him with enticements to gamble more, including having his personal host contact him up to 100 times a day.
“The complaint certainly does not claim the addicted gambler is blameless, but the suit does try to apportion responsibility in a way that accounts for FanDuel’s very active involvement in his gambling addiction,” said Patel's lawyer, Matthew Litt.
The lawsuit says that on several occasions when Patel had not yet placed a bet that day, his host called him to ask why not. These communications started early in the morning and went late into the night, the lawsuit asserts.
It says New York-based FanDuel lavished gifts on Patel, including trips to the Super Bowl, the Masters golf tournament, auto racing and college basketball tournaments.
Patel pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud and other charges, and he agreed to repay the money he stole from the team.
His lawsuit closely resembles other legal actions brought in recent years by compulsive gamblers who blamed casinos or online gambling companies of preying on their addictions.
In September 2008, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit brought by a former New York attorney who claimed seven casinos had a legal duty to stop her from gambling when they knew she was addicted to it.
And in February, a lawsuit brought by the same attorney who is representing Patel in the current one against FanDuel was dismissed after claiming Atlantic City casinos had a legal duty to cut off compulsive gamblers.
Similar lawsuits have been dismissed in other states.
___
Follow Wayne Parry on X at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC
!role~Preview!mt~photo!fmt~JPEG%20Baseline)
