Reg Reinoso

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The Case Against Online Sportsbooks: Addiction, AI, and Accountability

Online sportsbooks have quietly become one of the most dangerous products in the digital marketplace. What began as a form of entertainment has evolved into a multi-billion dollar system powered by behavioral science, machine learning, and strategic exploitation of human psychology. These platforms are not passive websites. They are engineered environments built to engage, convert, and addict.

What makes online sports betting uniquely harmful is not simply the volume of money being wagered. It is the way the platforms are designed to keep people betting, even when they know they should stop. Through targeted promotions, personalized offers, and algorithmic tracking of user behavior, these companies have created products that profit from compulsion. And they do so with little meaningful oversight.

The result is a growing public health crisis. Users are gambling more frequently, at higher stakes, and at increasingly younger ages. Many never see the warning signs until it is too late. Litigation is now the only meaningful avenue to address the damage being done.

A Business Built on Vulnerability

The success of online sportsbooks has little to do with luck. It is the result of calculated business decisions and technological systems designed to maximize user engagement and spending. A small number of companies dominate the market, and they are not just operating betting platforms. They are running finely tuned behavioral machines.

FanDuel and DraftKings control more than 65 percent of the U.S. online sportsbook market. Their revenues have surged over the past five years. FanDuel’s American revenue has grown from less than $500 million in 2019 to nearly $6 billion in 2024. DraftKings has seen a similar climb, now bringing in close to $5 billion annually. These are not gambling startups. They are sophisticated data-driven operations backed by multinational corporations.

That growth has been fueled by aggressive digital tactics. These companies track every scroll, every pause, every moment of hesitation. They use that data to determine when to push bonuses, when to escalate betting options, and how to pull users deeper into the platform. The goal is not a fair game. The goal is constant interaction and continuous wagering.

These systems are not just effective. They are dangerous for users who are most vulnerable to addiction. And that is not a design flaw. It is the business model.

Why Online Sportsbook Addiction Is Different

While all forms of gambling can carry risk, the structure and speed of online sportsbooks make them uniquely harmful. These platforms are not only more accessible than traditional gambling venues, but they are also designed to promote constant engagement. The risk does not lie solely in convenience. It lies in how these systems are engineered to keep users betting, hour after hour, with little friction and even less accountability.

Unlike a trip to a casino, online sports betting requires no planning, no physical location, and no pause between wagers. It is always on. With features like prop bets and microbets, users are encouraged to place bets on every play, every pitch, every moment. What looks like entertainment on the surface is, for many, a fast-moving cycle of financial loss and escalating harm.

Research supports what many families have already experienced firsthand. Sports bettors are twice as likely to develop gambling problems compared to gamblers overall. Online gamblers tend to bet more frequently, more aggressively, and with fewer safeguards than those at brick-and-mortar casinos. The result is an environment that drives higher rates of addiction, particularly among young men.

The consequences are devastating. Compulsive gamblers are fifteen times more likely to die by suicide than the general population. That is not a statistic associated with casual entertainment. It is a warning sign of something far more dangerous, embedded in the core of how these platforms are built.

How the Technology Works Against Users

Online sportsbooks are not neutral platforms. They are built on algorithms that learn from each user’s behavior and respond in real time. Every action: every scroll, hesitation, deposit, or bet, is captured and analyzed to determine how to keep that individual engaged for as long as possible.

These companies collect vast amounts of behavioral data. They track how quickly users scroll, how long they pause before placing a wager, which teams or sports attract the most action, and what time of day they are most likely to bet. The goal is to predict when someone is most vulnerable, then target them with personalized deposit offers, bonus promotions, or urgent betting prompts that are designed to feel timely and hard to resist.

It does not stop there. Advanced systems can escalate or slow betting opportunities depending on user patterns. They can identify someone who is on a losing streak, push incentives to keep them betting, and use prior behavior to fine-tune what messaging will be most persuasive.

In one study, researchers found that an online sportsbook platform was logging over 180 different behavioral attributes per user, including financial indicators, susceptibility to promotions, and even an inferred lifetime value of the account. This real-time behavioral profiling allows the platform to spot potential addiction and respond, not with intervention or limits, but with more tailored offers to deepen engagement.

This is not random or accidental. It is a deliberate system designed to extract as much as possible from those least able to walk away.

The Legal Theory: Product Liability Meets AI

The legal claims against online sportsbook companies go beyond addiction or misleading marketing. At their core, these lawsuits raise a fundamental question about product design and legal responsibility.

In this context, sportsbook apps are treated as products. When a product is designed in a way that foreseeably causes harm and safer alternatives are available, product liability law may apply. This body of law has long recognized that manufacturers can be held accountable when their products are unreasonably dangerous, even if the product performed as intended.

Courts have started applying these same principles to technology platforms. Legal claims have advanced against companies whose apps allegedly encouraged risky behavior, promoted addiction, or failed to include basic safety features that could have reduced foreseeable harm. The same logic is now being applied to online gambling.

Sportsbook apps use machine learning and artificial intelligence not just to facilitate bets, but to study user behavior and adapt in real time. These platforms are engineered to identify vulnerable users, maximize engagement, and push targeted promotions that escalate betting intensity.

This is not neutral design. It is a system that detects addiction and then feeds it.

When a product is built to exploit behavioral vulnerabilities and no meaningful safeguards are in place, the law may view that design as defective. The litigation aims to hold companies accountable for creating digital environments that cause real-world harm and make it harder for users to walk away.

Safer Designs Exist but Are Ignored

The argument that harm is inevitable or unpreventable does not hold up when safer alternatives already exist. In the European Union, where online sports betting has been around for nearly two decades, regulators and companies have implemented a range of protective measures. These include advertising restrictions, mandatory betting caps, credit checks, and tools designed to identify and intervene when users show signs of compulsive behavior.

FanDuel’s parent company, Flutter Entertainment, has already adopted many of these practices in its European operations. It has set deposit and time limits, uses predictive analytics to flag problem gambling, and applies financial vulnerability checks. But those same protections are not extended to American users. The companies know how to design safer systems. They have chosen not to.

There is also a movement in the United States to establish minimum safety standards. The proposed SAFE Bet Act calls for limits on deposit amounts, restrictions on targeted advertising, and mandatory implementation of AI safeguards. It would also prohibit deceptive promotions and require operators to take a more active role in protecting users from harm.

Regulatory frameworks are catching up, but the companies behind these platforms have already demonstrated that voluntary reform is possible. What is missing is the incentive to act. Litigation may be the only force strong enough to create that incentive.

Who May Have a Claim

Not every gambler is eligible to participate in this litigation. These cases are focused on individuals who have suffered severe and documentable harm as a direct result of online sports betting platforms. We are currently evaluating potential claims involving the following criteria:

• Individuals who were under the age of 18 when they began gambling online
  
• Users who have experienced losses exceeding $75,000 through online sportsbooks
  
• Individuals who have been diagnosed with gambling-related injuries, including gambling addiction, depression, anxiety, self-harm, attempted suicide, or suicide

Additional factors may include evidence of aggressive promotional targeting, such as VIP host outreach, repeated deposit bonuses, or persistent messaging tied to user behavior.

Every claim will be assessed individually. What unites these cases is not the amount wagered but the harm suffered, and the role that platform design played in creating or worsening that harm.

The Human Cost of a Digital Addiction

This is not about poor choices. It is not about someone simply placing one bet too many.

This is about billion-dollar corporations using behavioral data, artificial intelligence, and targeted promotions to keep users online, engaged, and betting. They designed systems that rewarded risky behavior, pushed boundaries with underage and vulnerable users, and ignored warning signs of addiction, self-harm, and loss.

Families have been torn apart. Homes lost. Lives ended.

Litigation will not undo the damage. But it can uncover the truth, hold companies accountable, and provide a path toward justice for those who were harmed.

If you or someone you love has suffered because of compulsive online gambling, you are not alone. Watts Law Firm is reviewing claims from individuals and families nationwide. We are committed to fighting for those who were targeted, manipulated, and hurt.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is based on facts and allegations obtained from publicly available sources and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship. If you believe you have been harmed by online gambling, you should consult a qualified attorney to discuss your individual circumstances.