{"id":95647,"date":"2025-08-25T22:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T22:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/95647\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T22:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T22:08:08","slug":"ex-jaguars-worker-talks-about-his-gambling-addiction-lawsuit-against-fanduel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/95647\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Jaguars worker talks about his gambling addiction, lawsuit against FanDuel"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee who is currently serving a federal sentence for stealing more than $22 million from the team over three years<\/a> told CNN he planned to put all of the money back into the team\u2019s account, but he lost it gambling online. <\/p>\n

CNN interviewed Amit Patel<\/a>, 32, while he was at FPC Montgomery, a minimum security federal prison camp, for a special \u201cSports Betting: America\u2019s Big Gamble\u201d on CNN\u2019s \u201cThe Whole Story with Anderson Cooper\u201d<\/a> which aired Sunday. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have money on a game or you\u2019re betting, it\u2019s almost as if nothing else in the world matters,\u201d Patel said. <\/p>\n

MORE:How one \u2018super basic\u2019 man stole $22M from his hometown Jaguars and became \u2018the biggest loser ever on FanDuel\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors say Patel used the stolen millions to live a \u201clife of luxury\u201d that included lavish trips on private jets, a country club membership, a luxury watch, and Jaguars and sports memorabilia worth tens of thousands of dollars. <\/p>\n

MORE | Private jets, gambling and a Trevor Lawrence jersey: A detailed look at what Amit Patel paid for with stolen Jags money<\/a><\/p>\n

Patel\u2019s attorneys argued that the vast majority of the money stolen from the Jaguars fueled Patel\u2019s online gambling addiction and asked for a lighter sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I did was illegally borrow money by using the Jaguars company credit card. The little voice in my head was like, \u2018Hey, just use the credit card. We\u2019ll win some money. We\u2019ll put it back, and no one will ever know,\u2019\u201d Patel told CNN\u2019s Nick Watt.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Patel spent more than $5 million of the stolen money on \u201cpersonal expenses,\u201d and released a long list of items purchased by Patel, along with photos of him on vacation.<\/p>\n

(From top left clockwise) The Department of Justice shared photographs of Amit Patel at The Ponte Vedra Inn and Club, at a Jaguars game in Kansas City, at a Formula 1 racing event in Miami, in London for a Jaguars game, photos from an event in Fort Lauderdale, in Sea Island, Ga. (Copyright 2024 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

Patel\u2019s attorney said his client suffers addictions to gambling, alcohol and drugs but has worked hard to turn his life around, getting sober, going to meetings, and even starting a Gamblers Anonymous chapter in Jacksonville Beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will say that not everyone will get addicted, but anyone can get addicted,\u201d Patel said. <\/p>\n

MORE | Ex-Jaguars worker who stole $22M from team sues FanDuel, saying it preyed on his gambling addiction<\/a><\/p>\n

Patel is now suing FanDuel for $250 million. Patel\u2019s attorney said FanDuel would have known that he was an addicted gambler because he was depositing $25,000 as many as 10 times a day.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

His attorney said the New York-based company lavished gifts on Patel, including trips to the Super Bowl, the Masters golf tournament, auto racing and college basketball tournaments.<\/p>\n

FanDuel, one of the biggest sports betting sites, told CNN it can\u2019t comment on ongoing litigation or specific allegations, but gave a statement that reads, in part, \u201cFanDuel operates in strict accordance with established state laws in support of problem gambling prevention.\u201d<\/p>\n

In court, FanDuel has argued that Patel is a convicted criminal and can\u2019t bring a lawsuit based on his own illegal acts. <\/p>\n

Patel is currently in the Duval County Jail because he now faces six counts of grand theft under state law, and could have years added to his prison sentence. <\/p>\n

Patel is set to appear in Duval County court on Sept. 16 on his grand theft charges. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2025 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee who is currently serving a federal sentence for stealing more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":95648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[70497,64,63,137,23167,23168,514,515],"class_list":{"0":"post-95647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-amit-patel","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-health","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-jaguars","14":"tag-mental-health","15":"tag-mentalhealth"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}