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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →A 2026 investigation described a DraftKings machine-learning system that reportedly used customers’ betting behavior, including losses, to predict who might respond to promotions. DraftKings denies using AI to target people based on losses or signs of potential problem gambling. Massachusetts regulators said they would examine sportsbooks’ use of AI in promotions, but the reporting did not establish a finding of wrongdoing.
What did the DraftKings AI report allege?
Malwarebytes’ summary of a September 2026 New York Times investigation said more than 40 former DraftKings employees described a promotional-targeting model developed starting in 2023. According to that account, the system used information including betting frequency, losses and daily account balances to estimate which customers were likely to respond to offers. The report called this predicted responsiveness an “elasticity” score.
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The allegation is that the model could help the sportsbook direct promotions toward customers expected to react to incentives and bet more. That is an account attributed to former employees and materials described in the Times investigation—not a public regulator finding or an independently established description of the model’s operation.
Malwarebytes also said the investigation described a separate effort to identify people at risk of gambling harm, which former employees said was shelved after a planned demonstration was cancelled. That, too, is an investigative account, not an established finding by a regulator.
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What has DraftKings said?
DraftKings disputes the allegation that it uses AI to target customers based on losses or potential problem-gambling indicators. Spokesperson Park Winslow told WBUR: “DraftKings does not use AI to target customers based on losses, nor do we use AI to target customers based on indicators of potential problem gaming.”
The dispute is therefore about more than whether DraftKings uses machine learning in marketing: the central question is whether its promotional systems target people because their behavior suggests they may respond by betting more, particularly when losses or risk indicators are involved. The company’s denial and the former employees’ accounts remain distinct claims; the reporting cited here does not resolve them.
What are Massachusetts regulators doing?
On September 25, 2026, Quartz reported that the Massachusetts Gaming Commission would examine how DraftKings and other licensed sportsbooks use AI in promotional activity. Commission chair Jordan Maynard said: “These A.I. technologies are evolving rapidly across our society, and we share the concern over their application.”
Quartz described Massachusetts rules that restrict automated promotions known or reasonably expected to heighten a gambling platform’s addictive qualities. The commission’s planned examination is an inquiry, not a determination that DraftKings violated those rules. The reporting available here did not establish the inquiry’s outcome or any enforcement decision.
How does the proposed lawsuit fit in?
WBUR reported that a proposed class action filed in federal court in Boston alleged that the plaintiff received at least 70 promotional messages in one month and that DraftKings’ AI flagged customers likely to respond to incentives. Those are allegations in a complaint, not proof that the messages were sent as claimed or that the system operated as alleged. DraftKings denied the allegations. The later procedural status of the proposed suit was not established in the reporting cited here.
Which other DraftKings cases are separate?
Connecticut’s Department of Consumer Protection announced on July 10, 2025, that DraftKings agreed to return more than $3 million to 7,000 consumers over certain deposit-bonus offers, provide employee training and improve consumer education. That settlement concerned bonus-offer marketing and advertising; the announcement does not say it involved AI targeting.
DraftKings’ 2025 annual filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also described multiple promotion-related lawsuits and their status as of the filing. It presented those matters as plaintiffs’ allegations and said the company intended to defend itself. The filing does not establish that the AI allegations were proven. These separate legal matters should not be treated as findings about the reported model.
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The reported targeting claims are serious, but the available accounts do not establish a final legal or regulatory conclusion. The investigation’s allegations, DraftKings’ denial, Massachusetts regulators’ examination and the proposed lawsuit each have a different status. In particular, neither a regulator’s decision to examine a practice nor a lawsuit’s allegations are proof of misconduct.
Readers in Connecticut can find confidential problem-gambling helpline and self-exclusion information through the state Department of Consumer Protection. People elsewhere should use support and self-exclusion services available in their own jurisdiction.
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