MIAMI (Legal Newsline) - A class action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida claims FanDuel Inc. used false or misleading advertising and caused monetary damages to its users.
The lawsuit, filed Nov. 20, claims that the fantasy sports website’s claim to match a new member’s initial deposit of up to $200 is inaccurate, claiming instead a complicated formula used by the site “does not match a single dollar.”
FanDuel offers consumers an opportunity to pay entry fees to play one-day fantasy sports games and takes a percentage of each pot as a fee for hosting the game. The lawsuit cites television commercials in which FanDuel uses terms such as “Deposit now, and we’ll match up to 200 bucks, dollar for dollar;” “Double your deposit with promo code;” and “Deposit is 100% matched.”
The lawsuit claims rather than matching the new member deposit, the website uses a formula that releases four percent of the entry fee during each contest entered. Instead of a $200 deposit resulting in $400 in a member’s account, a consumer receives a bonus of $8 if he or she enters a $200 contest.
A consumer would have to spend $5,000 in contest order fees to receive a match of its initial $200 investment, the lawsuit claims.
Plaintiff Joshua Carroll started with a $25 initial deposit to FanDuel. When he spent that $25 on contests, FanDuel released $1 of his bonus.
“Carroll must invest an additional $600 with FanDuel before FanDuel releases its promised $25 bonus,” the lawsuit said.
Attorneys Edward H. Zebersky and Philip A. Gold are representing the plaintiffs.
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida case number 1:14-cv-24431.