So-called responsible gambling tools from online sportsbooks are often ineffective at reducing problem gambling. Sometimes the features literally don’t work.

The State of Indiana took regulatory actions against four online sports betting operators in March 2026 for responsible gambling-related violations.

With that background, let’s review each case.

FanDuel

• In April 2025, FanDuel received notification from a patron inquiry that a user placed wagers that had exceeded their self-imposed daily limit.
• In May 2025, FanDuel notified Indiana.
• FanDuel said the issue was caused by a platform upgrade that temporarily prevented the system from accessing wager and loss limit balances on customer accounts. 
• As a result, 22 Indiana users exceeded their self-imposed gambling limits.
• FanDuel refunded customers who had placed wagers that exceeded their self-imposed limits and resulted in a loss or returned less than the original stake. 

Result: $6,000 fine

Read the full settlement here.

Fanatics

• In October 2025, Fanatics notified Indiana of an issue that impacted deposit limits. 
• According to Fanatics, a recent code update caused the issue.
• The update deployed an old version of the code that temporarily disabled self-imposed limits from October 8, 2025, to October 9, 2025. 
• As a result, eight users were able to deposit funds that exceeded self-imposed limits. 
• Fanatics released an update on October 9, 2025, to resolve the issue.
• Fanatics refunded the users who had wagered.

Result: $3,000 fine

Read the full settlement here.

Bally Bet

• In June 2025, Bally Bet received a notification from White Hat Gaming of what it said was a technical problem affecting the calculation of spending limits. 
• Bally Bet notified the Indiana Gaming Commission of the issue. In July 2025, Bally Bet provided the official report from White Hat Gaming’s investigation. 
• White Hat said a coding issue caused the system to identify spend limits as wager limits.
• Two users in Indiana were impacted by the issue. One patron had applied a daily limit to their account, and another had applied a weekly limit. The issue allowed both users to exceed their specified limits.
• In November 2025, Indiana was notified by White Hat Gaming of another issue affecting self-imposed deposit cool-off limits in Bally’s system.
• It was determined that an update released on November 6, 2025, overwrote players’ deposit limits after they requested an increase.
• The issue remained active until the update was rolled back on November 14, 2025. 
• During this time, two users in Indiana were affected. Bally Bet refunded them.
• White Hat Gaming implemented new measures within the system.

Result: $3,000 fine

Read the full settlement here.

Hard Rock Digital

• In April 2025, Indiana was notified by Hard Rock Digital of an issue involving the patron time-out/internal exclusion status feature. 
• A number of system issues contributed to the change in account status. 
• This issue affected all accounts, including three that had sports wagering activity prior to the completion of the self-imposed limits.
• Hard Rock Digital fixed the issue and implemented changes that require an account to be reviewed before reactivation.

Result: $1,500 fine

Read the full settlement here.

Bottom Line

I’ve seen other reports of these software issues on betting platforms in various states over the years. They are serious lapses that can cause harm to users.

Are these sanctions in Indiana a sign that regulation is working? Or do these tech issues with responsible gambling tools indicate that the state should not sanction this industry?

It appears to be a matter of interpretation.

Image by Евгений from Pixabay