REPORTER BET LIKE AN ADDICT FOR 10 STRAIGHT WEEKS AND DRAFTKINGS PROMOTED HIM

ProPublica's Jake Pearson opened a DraftKings account under his own name, linked his debit card, and told the app he was a reporter. Then he spent 10 weeks betting like a man in freefall, on purpose, with a panel of addiction specialists, recovering gamblers and pro bettors coaching him on exactly what the red flags look like. He hit every one of them. He blew about $1,800 in one night chasing his losses during the Knicks run. The next day DraftKings emailed him an invitation to the VIP Showcase, a three-week audition for the velvet rope. He ripped 64 wagers on French Open tennis in a single two-hour sitting from his office chair, including $75 on who would win one specific tiebreak point. He played 500 rounds of blackjack in a weekend, roughly half his total bets for the entire experiment. Final tab, around $10,000 of ProPublica's money. The responsible gaming prompts he did trigger were a tap away from gone while the promos kept buzzing. DraftKings says it proactively closes accounts when someone shows too many signs of trouble. An executive declined to say how many times that has actually happened. FanDuel got the same behavior for a week and at least had the decency not to send a fruit basket.

Why you should give a shit: One 2024 Connecticut study found 1.8% of problem gamblers there generated 51% of sports betting revenue, so the VIP invite was never a reward for playing well, it was a receipt confirming you're the business model.