The online sportsbook recently extended a new offer to some of its VIP customers: an opportunity to bring their kids to the Philadelphia Zoo<\/a> on Saturday for its annual \u201cBoo at the Zoo<\/a>\u201d festivities, promising in an email \u201cthe perfect combination of Halloween fun, family entertainment, and VIP treatment for all ages.\u201d <\/p>\n A digital flyer for the event, obtained by The Inquirer, shows that the perk also includes complimentary parking passes, and lunch and snacks at the zoo\u2019s Garden Pavilion for the sportsbook\u2019s VIP customers and up to three guests. The flyer notes that FanDuel will have a registration table near the zoo\u2019s entrance.<\/p>\n \u201cKids and adults can get into the spirit with face painting, personalized caricature drawings, and explore the zoo in costume as part of the beloved Boo at the Zoo tradition,\u201d reads one passage of the flyer. <\/p>\n Addiction experts said the offer of a benefit that could be enjoyed by children of heavy gamblers, in a family-centric setting, is troubling, and raises new questions over how VIP programs operate. <\/p>\n \u201cSo, this is a bad idea,\u201d said Timothy Fong, the co-director of the UCLA Gambling Studies Program. \u201cMaybe someone in the zoo\u2019s offices doesn\u2019t understand the gravity of the situation. Even if [FanDuel] pays a good chunk of money, the zoo still has a choice to say no.\u201d <\/p>\n Fong said this particular VIP reward could create \u201ca brand value\u201d with a family that is able to visit the zoo specifically because of FanDuel. \u201cI\u2019m not castigating them,\u201d he said, \u201cbut [FanDuel] is an adult product for people who are 21 and up.\u201d<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the zoo did not respond Monday to a request for comment. Messages left for John Ginter, chairman of the zoo\u2019s board of directors, and Jo-Elle Mogerman, its president and CEO, were not immediately returned.<\/p>\n On its website, zoo admission tickets for two adults, two children, and a parking pass for Oct. 24 would normally cost $134. <\/p>\n In an email Monday, a FanDuel spokesperson wrote: \u201cFanDuel is not a sponsor of \u2018Boo at the Zoo\u2019 and there is no FanDuel branding on site. FanDuel has played no role in the planning or execution of this event and purchased tickets through normal channels to give customers the option of attending. <\/p>\n \u201cLike many consumer companies, we offer our most loyal customers a range of complimentary benefits. Examples include access to museum exhibits; tickets for sports and cultural events; and priority restaurant reservations.\u201d<\/p>\n The flyer, however, describes the offer as a \u201cBoo at the Zoo VIP Event\u201d with \u201clasting memories in true FanDuel VIP style.\u201d<\/p>\n Doug Harbach, a spokesperson for Pennsylvania\u2019s Gaming Control Board, said on Monday that \u201cproviding a benefit to someone under 21 years old is a matter in which we may request more info, and we\u2019re looking into this particular situation to see if that is occurring.\u201d<\/p>\n The board doesn\u2019t review in advance rewards that gambling companies might offer their customers, Harbach said. \u201cAt the same time, in the normal course of our regulatory processes, a promotion is subject to audit.\u201d <\/p>\n Longtime addiction counselors have said that Pennsylvania is the epicenter of a gambling addiction crisis<\/a>. Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have found that between 2.4% and 6.4% of Pennsylvanians might be problem gamblers \u2014 more than double the reported national average of 1% to 3%.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania recorded $7.7 billion in overall gambling revenue in 2025, a sum that trailed only Nevada, while the Philadelphia media market<\/a> last year outpaced even Las Vegas and New York City for gambling advertisements. <\/p>\n Sportsbooks have expanded into other corners of everyday life with sponsorship arrangements. Last fall, when SEPTA enacted service cuts amid a budget crisis, FanDuel paid $80,000<\/a> to cover the operating cost of express trains on the Broad Street Line during and after an Eagles game against the Dallas Cowboys, while DraftKings recently paid for visitors\u2019 parking<\/a> at a state fair in Texas.<\/p>\n But Cort M. Dorn-Medeiros, an addiction expert and professor in the Counseling, Therapy, and School Psychology department at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Ore., said a kid-friendly zoo event \u2014 which includes the promise of a free lunch and \u201cspooktacular snacks\u201d \u2014 represents a dangerous escalation.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the desensitization and targeting of a market that is not yet in your realm, but very soon could be, and a very lucrative target population,\u201d Dorn-Medeiros said.<\/p>\n A 2025 Common Sense Media survey of 1,017 boys ages 11 to 17 found that 36% had participated<\/a> in some form of gambling during the previous year. At least 49% reported that they had encountered gambling content on social media, and nearly 60% said the content appeared even when they had not searched for it.<\/p>\n \u201cAn event like this, nothing happens by accident,\u201d Dorn-Medeiros said. \u201cI think these companies know what they\u2019re doing. They can present it as appreciation for customers, but why are children involved? Why is it being held in a venue that clearly is for children?\u201d<\/p>\n Three members of Congress have since August accused FanDuel of using its VIP rewards to \u201cdrive bettors into debt and addiction<\/a>\u201d and called on the company to end such programs, citing The Inquirer\u2019s reporting about a VIP account manager who in 2024 sent a video of Harper personally greeting<\/a> a local bettor who had an addiction and his young son.<\/p>\n In a written response<\/a> to the lawmakers\u2019 criticism, a FanDuel executive insisted that the company\u2019s customer rewards are \u201cnot designed to encourage destructive gambling,\u201d and that its VIP managers are trained to recognize and report signs of problem betting. <\/p>\n Frank James, a psychiatrist with the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia, said the general idea of a gambling company being involved with a kid-friendly event is reminiscent of how the tobacco industry once found creative ways to market chewing tobacco<\/a> and cigarettes<\/a> to adolescents. <\/p>\n Sports betting’s growing impact <\/p>\n In 1998, the four largest tobacco companies \u2014 facing nationwide litigation over the harm their products caused to consumers\u2019 health \u2014 entered into a master settlement agreement with the National Association of Attorneys General. The companies paid more than $200 billion to 46 states, including Pennsylvania, and were prohibited from marketing their products to adolescents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe learned from this when it came to cigarettes and kids. We need to look at what we learned in the past and maybe apply it to gaming and gambling,\u201d James said. \u201cI think if [Boo at the Zoo] was sponsored by a tobacco company we would have a different reaction to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Brian Carr, a former president and chief operating officer of Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem, said that it\u2019s not unusual for brick-and-mortar casinos to do charitable outreach to seniors or veterans, or to sponsor a booth or a stage at a music festival.<\/p>\n Such efforts were clearly \u201cfocused on adults,\u201d Carr said. \u201cIt was always an unspoken rule that you didn\u2019t do anything with kids.\u201d<\/p>\n Carr, now a casino consultant, said that if he still operated a gambling entity, he \u201cwouldn\u2019t be comfortable signing off\u201d on a bettor reward that could potentially involve children. <\/p>\n \u201cIf someone brought it to me,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019d be like, \u2018No.\u2019\u201d<\/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, wants to speak with a reporter, please contact David Gambacorta or William Bender at dgambacorta@inquirer.com<\/a> and 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 For months, FanDuel has faced scrutiny from members of Congress over the rewards…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":310267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[127030,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-310266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-fanduel-philadelphia-zoo-vip-halloween-gambling","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310266","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=310266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/310267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792465931_149_circle_outline_footer_light_theme.png\"\/)
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