A North Carolina man says online lender Affirm, Inc. gave him predatory loans for online gambling.
Matthew Joyce filed a lawsuit in California federal court against Affirm and sweepstakes gambling platforms Modo Casino and McLuck Casino related to his compulsive gambling.
Joyce’s legal team claimed that the online casinos “facilitated” his dangerous levels of gambling over a multi-year period through “various financing schemes, including through partnerships with lending services like Affirm.”
The lawsuit said the lender has “policies against financing gambling activities.”
“Plaintiff took out numerous high-interest loans specifically for gambling on Defendants’ platforms, with transactions showing repeated patterns of taking out loans from Affirm (often with APRs of 24-25%), immediately transferring the funds to Defendants’ platforms, and quickly losing the borrowed funds through gambling.”
In total, Joyce said he gambled for over 5,300 hours between the two casinos and suffered $1 million in financial losses.
Affirm Transactions for Gambling, Lawsuit Says
Sweepstakes casinos operate under a dual-currency model. Users buy virtual currency to play, rather than gambling directly with real money. The business model amounts to illegal gambling, according to numerous states in the U.S.
Joyce’s lawsuit claimed his addiction was visibly apparent to the defendants.
“In January 2025 alone, Plaintiff took out dozens of loans specifically for “MODO GOLD COINS” with transaction amounts typically ranging from $299.99 to $499.99, demonstrating a clear pattern of addiction-driven borrowing,” the lawsuit said.
“Affirm representatives later acknowledged to [Joyce] that their ‘system does not detect [gambling transactions] right away,’ allowing initial transactions to process despite violating their terms of service.”
Affirm Allegedly Tried to Collect Gambling Debts
Joyce claimed he asked the company whether the platform allowed sweepstakes casino purchases.
“Affirm representatives confirmed they had updated their system to block such transactions, stating, ‘Affirm does not support transactions that could be considered illegal or gambling,’ yet continued attempting to collect debts from [Joyce’s] gambling-related loans.”
Joyce said he spent over $200,000 on sweepstakes casino gambling in 2025.
Despite Joyce’s admission of the gambling purchases, Affirm allegedly “continued to attempt collection on these gambling-related debts rather than addressing their failure to prevent gambling-related loans.”
Damages Against Affirm, Partner Celtic Bank
The lawsuit also mentioned Utah-based Celtic Bank, the originator of the platform’s alleged gambling loans.
“Defendant provided usurious loans based on unconscionable loan terms via Celtic Bank. Affirm’s lending terms were both unconscionable to an unsophisticated person, but also to a disabled, gambling addict such as Mr. Joyce.”
Joyce’s prayer for relief seeks $1 million against Affirm, Inc. and Celtic Bank, plus $2.5 million in damages
Bottom Line: Can You Use Affirm for Gambling?
According to allegations in the federal lawsuit Joyce v. ARB Gaming LLC et al, it is possible to use Affirm’s services for betting.
However, the “buy now, pay later” service said on its website that it doesn’t finance gambling.
“There are a number of products that Affirm doesn’t have a moral objection to, but which we are not able to finance based on our banking partnership model. This could include gambling sites, weapons and ammunition, fireworks, and adult or intimacy products.”
The company categorizes gambling as a high-risk transaction.
While gambling platforms like DraftKings and FanDuel offer a variety of payment methods, Affirm is not among them.
Real-money casinos/sportsbooks typically accept payments via debit cards, credit cards (in states where it is legal), Venmo, PayPal, and direct bank transfers.
Affirm has expanded its services to include in-game purchases for video gaming, some games of which could have features that mimic gambling. It is a complicated regulatory environment.
The lines between gambling and non-gambling are blurred in the U.S.
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