Gambling regulators in Ohio have fined the gambling company DraftKings $425,000 for two sports gaming violations.
The settlement agreement was published by a local news source named Cleveland, with the Ohio Casino Control Commission having oversight of all sports gaming and casino gaming that takes place in the state.
It was between March 14, 2024, and March 19, 2024, when DraftKings were described as having accepted bets on individual collegiate athlete performance which is a sports gaming event or wager type that was not approved by the Commission at the time the wagers were accepted.
Between January 1, 2023, and March 5, 2024, DraftKings are detailed in the settlement as allowing deposit-enabled sports gaming accounts to be funded through an unapproved method.
DraftKings permitted deposits using local retailers as a way to allow people without bank accounts to bet money with the company, said Matt Schuler, executive director of the Ohio Casino Control Commission in an interview to Cleveland.
“Part of the problem here was that (DraftKings’) internal communication systems and checks and balances were not set up properly to ensure that everybody involved in creating markets in Ohio was aware of all of the parameters,” Schuler said.
DraftKings fine in Ohio will be added to sports gaming revenue fund
The Commission acknowledges that the Boston-based sports betting company undertook remediation measures after being notified of what had occurred.
This included disabling the relevant individual collegiate athlete proposition markets in Ohio, performing an additional review of those markets, and voiding all non-winning wagers on the offered market for individual collegiate athletes and returning the wagered amount to Ohio patrons.
The settlement states that DraftKings will “pay a monetary fine in the amount of $425,000 no later than 30 days from the effective date of this Agreement.” The Commission will then deposit this money into the sports gaming revenue fund.
DraftKings hasn’t yet made a public statement about the fine, with the settlement agreement being the latest.
The sports betting company has a huge foothold in Ohio, with it taking 308,700,789 in Total Gross Receipts in September alone. This resulted in 269,704,783 in Winnings Paid and 37,469,362 in Revenue.
According to a September 2024 Sports Gaming Revenue report, DraftKings’ main competitor in the area is Fanduel. While FanDuel took less in Total Gross Receipts during the month, its revenue was slightly higher at 39,116,508.
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram
