Michigan has fined DraftKings for responsible gambling failures related to player self-imposed wagering limits.
Records obtained through a Gambling Harm FOIA request show that DraftKings was fined $5,000 in August 2025 for allowing people to continue wagering despite their efforts to control their gambling.
The FOIA request provided few details about the violation.
According to a settlement between Michigan and DraftKings:
“Due to a misconfiguration in DraftKings’ centralized account ledger system related to promotional bonus funds, 15 patrons were allowed to exceed their self-imposed daily, weekly or monthly wagering limits during the period of December 9, 2023, through January 5, 2024.”
DraftKings self-reported these incidents to the Michigan Gaming Control Board.
Despite DraftKings admitting to the failures, the gambling platform nonetheless described the violations as “allegations” in a letter to the MGCB.
The DraftKings fine came just several days before the MGCB reported that online gambling in the state generated about $280 million for gambling platforms in July 2025.
DraftKings Wagering Limits Fix
Documents obtained by Gambling Harm did not state how DraftKings became aware of the issue impacting self-imposed wagering limits.
It’s unclear if the users exhibiting gambling addiction had complained to DraftKings that the responsible gambling feature was not working.
In a “mitigation statement” to the MGCB, DraftKings said that it “deployed an emergency release” to correct the problem. It also refunded affected users.
It’s unclear how much money the affected users had wagered or lost.
“Following the incident, DraftKings enhanced its responsible gaming-specific tests across all services responsible for validating wagering limits,” the company said in the letter. “This enhancement is designed to ensure consistent functionality when code changes are made to these services by implementing additional manual and automated tests prior to deployment.”
The online sportsbook and casino said it also “enhanced its data validation processes for capturing transactions from the user’s wallet,” which would trigger an “automated alert if the user’s transaction exceeds their wagering limit.”
The company called it an “additional layer of protection in the event the initial layer of controls somehow does not account for the transaction.”
DraftKings said it is unaware of any “recurrence” of the wagering limits issue.
Federal Oversight on Wagering Limits
States regulate online gambling, but there’s a federal proposal called the SAFE Bet Act that would establish federal oversight.
The SAFE Bet Act would require online sportsbooks to conduct an “affordability check” before allowing a user to bet more than $1,000 in 24 hours or $10,000 in a month.
That would be the minimum standard, with states allowed to enact tighter restrictions.
Clear federal standards for wagering limits could provide more robust enforcement of consumer protections for people with addiction.
Mounting Issues for DraftKings
The Boston-based DraftKings has been under fire in 2025 in the form of negative headlines, lawsuits and regulatory violations.
Here’s a brief rundown of the year so far for the company:
- DraftKings Agrees to Refund $3m in CT Consumer Protection Settlement
- DraftKings Fined in Michigan for Not Processing Player Withdrawal
- Pennsylvania Psychiatrist, DraftKings Settle Addiction Case
- Woman Who Lost $300K on DraftKings Pleads Guilty in Public Funds Theft
- Massachusetts Fines DraftKings $450k for Illegal Credit Card Deposits
- Baltimore Sues DraftKings Over Alleged Predatory Practices
- Pennsylvania Lawsuit Alleges DraftKings Addiction Harm to Users
Alongside rival FanDuel, DraftKings is a dominant player in the U.S. online gambling sector.
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