But attorneys for FanDuel and DraftKings argue that the lawsuit \u2014 which claims that the companies violated Pennsylvania\u2019s consumer protection law, and were negligent in protecting Thompson and Sage from harm \u2014 is inherently flawed, according to preliminary objections<\/a> that were filed July 15 in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia. <\/p>\n \u201cCourts around the country, including courts that sit in this Commonwealth, have held that there is no duty of care to protect customers from their own lawful wagering, even where such wagering is alleged to be compulsive,\u201d wrote attorney Erin L. Leffler, who represents FanDuel. <\/p>\n Thompson, of Montgomery County<\/a>, placed his first bet with FanDuel in 2020 and went on to lose nearly $1.8 million, his lawsuit alleges. He planned to die by suicide earlier this year rather than confess the scope of his losses to his family, the lawsuit says. <\/p>\n Sage, of Delaware County<\/a>, began wagering with DraftKings in 2019 and eventually lost about $175,000. To fund his gambling, he alleges, he stopped making payments on his mortgage and truck, and borrowed money from loan sharks. <\/p>\n Lawyers for FanDuel and DraftKings wrote that Thompson and Sage knew about their addictions for longer than the state\u2019s two-year statute of limitations for product liability lawsuits. <\/p>\n Yet the sportsbooks contend that they should not even face product liability claims, because they do not sell an actual product but instead offer customers a free online app. <\/p>\n The Public Health Advocacy Institute declined to comment Monday. <\/p>\n The lawsuit attracted national attention following a July 9 Inquirer report<\/a> that revealed Bryttanni Morgan, a FanDuel VIP manager, had sent a personalized video of Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper<\/a> to Thompson in November 2024. (Morgan, who is named in the lawsuit, was also a VIP manager for Sage.) <\/p>\n Harper later wrote on Instagram that he had recorded the message<\/a> through the paid video service Cameo but had not known that FanDuel intended to use it as a reward for a VIP gambler who had an addiction. <\/p>\n The Phillies star is not named in the lawsuit. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board \u2014 which regulates casinos, online gambling, and sports wagering \u2014 has said it is reviewing<\/a> the Harper video. <\/p>\n FanDuel and DraftKings, in their preliminary objections, suggested that Common Pleas Court Judge Gwendolyn N. Bright could pause the case to allow the gaming control board to evaluate elements of the case that fall under its regulatory purview, like in-game microbets. <\/p>\n The board has not yet reviewed the court records, a spokesperson, Doug Harbach, wrote in an email Monday. <\/p>\n \u201cWith that said, the PGCB\u2019s role as the regulator of gaming in the Commonwealth is, first, to make sure that all persons and entities licensed by us to engage in that activity have and maintain suitability through a showing of ongoing good character, honesty and integrity,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n One of the defendants, London-based Genius Sports, licenses official statistics and data from the NFL, the NCAA, and other leagues, and supplies that information to betting markets. The company also earns commissions on gamblers\u2019 microbets, Thompson\u2019s and Sage\u2019s attorneys have alleged, a revenue stream that reached more than $125 million in 2025.<\/p>\n In addition to licensing its data to Genius Sports, the NFL has also owned as much as 8.7% <\/a>of the publicly traded company\u2019s stock, making it Genius Sports\u2019 largest shareholder. <\/p>\n Genius Sports and the NFL are also seeking to have Thompson\u2019s and Sage\u2019s lawsuit dismissed. <\/p>\n Attorneys for Genius Sports wrote that the company is \u201cmerely an upstream data supplier\u201d and has no control over sportsbook apps.<\/p>\n The NFL argued that the court has no jurisdiction over the league, which had no \u201crelevant contact of any kind\u201d with the plaintiffs. <\/p>\n Other possible resolutions<\/p>\n In a separate court filing, FanDuel\u2019s attorneys argued there is a more proper path to resolving the case.<\/p>\n \u201cThis dispute belongs in arbitration, not in court,\u201d the lawyers wrote. <\/p>\n After creating accounts with FanDuel, Thompson and Sage each agreed to the company\u2019s terms and conditions, which require customers to resolve complaints through mandatory, multistep arbitration.<\/p>\n \u201cThe arbitration agreement was not hidden in the terms,\u201d reads part of the response to the lawsuit. \u201cIt was prominently disclosed at the outset.\u201d <\/p>\n FanDuel successfully argued for arbitration earlier this year in the Southern District of New York, where a former Jacksonville Jaguars executive, Amit Patel, sued the sportsbook operator for $250 million<\/a>, claiming it worsened his gambling addiction, according to a report in Sportico, a sports business web site. <\/p>\n Patel was sentenced in 2024 to more than six years in federal prison for embezzling more than $22 million<\/a> from the Jaguars. He used some of the money to place online wagers. <\/p>\n FanDuel later agreed to pay $5 million to the NFL, in \u201cthe interest of being a good partner with the league,\u201d ESPN reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Inquirer will continue to report on issues related to the growth of gambling addiction \u2014 among teens and adults \u2014 across Pennsylvania. If you or someone you know would like to speak with a reporter, please contact David Gambacorta or William Bender at dgambacorta@inquirer.com<\/a> or wbender@inquirer.com<\/a><\/p>\n Acknowledgment<\/p>\n The Inquirer\u2019s journalism is supported, in part, by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism and readers like you. News and editorial content are created independently of The Inquirer\u2019s donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer\u2019s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com\/donate<\/a>. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org\/supporters<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min FanDuel and DraftKings have each asked a Philadelphia judge to dismiss a lawsuit…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[108182,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-253685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-fanduel-draftkings-nfl-lawsuit-philadelphia-terry-thompson-harper","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/circle_outline_footer_light_theme.png\"\/)
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