U.S. Congress members Sen. Richard Blumenthal, along with U.S. Reps. Paul D. Tonko and Valerie P. Foushee have urged MLB and MLBPA to prevent athletes from participating in sports betting VIP program promotions. This comes after an incident with FanDuel, where a VIP host sent a personalized “Cameo” video from Bryce Harper to a user who was dealing with problem gambling.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, these three members of Congress recently sent a letter to MLB and MLBPA, demanding “an end to the MLB and MLBPA policies that enabled this type of predatory promotion,” referring to the Bryce Harper video that encouraged a user dealing with gambling addiction to bet.
The video was problematic because it featured a video from a prominent athlete, which was intended to influence the player to place more wagers. The user in question is named Terry Thompson. He reportedly lost $1.5 million over several years with the platform.
Thompson has filed a lawsuit against FanDuel, claiming that the company used its VIP program to push him towards more gambling at a time when he was dealing with addiction.
The issue with the Bryce Harper video highlights how sportsbook VIP programs need to be overhauled. These are programs that only include users who have wagered significant amounts of money on the platform. Operators are rewarding heavy activity on their sites.
At the same time, users who win a lot of money on prominent betting sites are often limited to low-stakes wagers, effectively getting kicked off the site, since being profitable becomes no longer attainable.
To that end, the users who are active on these platforms and then offered a VIP host are often those who suffer substantial financial losses on the site, as with Thompson and FanDuel.
Once these players are put into VIP programs, they are often enticed to place more wagers, just like we saw with the Harper video. This kind of aggressive marketing directly contradicts responsible gaming policies that involve taking a proactive approach to helping those experiencing problem gambling.
That’s why we’ve seen Congress members show such urgency in demanding that a case like this never happens again.
Congress members have asked that MLB and MLBPA provide important information on this issue by August 24th.
This includes whether MLB players can seek endorsements from sportsbooks, how MLB and MLBPA will emphasize fan safety over gambling revenue, and whether they need to strengthen endorsement policies to prevent them from being used for VIP marketing.
Other concerns include player education on this issue, along with potential prohibition in interacting in personalized marketing campaigns from sportsbooks to VIP programs.
Earlier last year, we saw MLB respond to a gambling scandal involving Cleveland Guardians players by implementing restrictions on micro bets. It remains to be seen if they respond with similar restrictions on player involvement in sportsbook marketing following this statement from Congress.
