Northeastern Law’s Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) and its Center for Public Health Litigation filed a class action lawsuit in December on behalf of Massachusetts citizens who opened DraftKings Sportsbook accounts in response to a $1,000 bonus sign-up promotion that the gambling company widely advertised. The lawsuit alleges that members of the class were not aware that to qualify for the sign-up bonus of $1,000, new customers were required to make an initial deposit of $5,000. After that, they had to gamble $25,000 on certain qualifying bets over a finite time period. If they did all that, they would qualify to receive non-withdrawable credits to use on the platform.

Plaintiffs Shane Harris and Melissa Scanlon responded to the offer and were confused about why they never received the $1,000 sign-up bonus. “Shane and Melissa are typical of many thousands of people in Massachusetts who were misled by the bonus offer and would not have signed up had they understood DraftKings’ unfair and deceptive requirements,” said PHAI executive director Mark Gottlieb ’93.

Well known for its pioneering work to hold tobacco companies liable for their products’ harms through litigation, PHAI recently turned its attention to online gambling. “Online gambling is creating a public health disaster with increasingly addictive products right before our eyes,” said Professor, president of PHAI. “Massive advertising using deceptive promotions to hook customers on an addictive product bears an uncanny similarity to what the cigarette companies used to get away with.”

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