DraftKings Facing Massachusetts Regulatory Scrutiny Over Mistaken Email

A widespread notification from DraftKings in mid-August about settlement of PGA Tour golf bets mostly was met with harmless bemusement and confusion from those receiving the email.

These recipients consisted of those who have made wagers on golf using the online sportsbook — just not this particular bet — as well as those who don’t even have a DraftKings account.

But it is another group of recipients that may land the Boston-based DFS and sports betting giant in hot water with Massachusetts regulators.

That’s because during a Massachusetts Gaming Commission hearing on Thursday, it was revealed that while the email was intended to be sent to only 13 bettors whose wagers were relevant to the settlement, it actually went out to more than 1 million users. And the potential hot water comes from the fact that the commission found that 184 residents on the voluntary self-exclusion list received the email.

This is a group that has found that gambling became problematic in their lives, so they have completely walked away.

And for some compulsive gamblers, merely receiving such an email could be upsetting — or could create a risk of reigniting an interest in wagering.

The commission board unanimously agreed to schedule a hearing to go over further details of how the glitch occurred before determining what, if any, civil penalty should be applied.

‘Dead heat’ golf bet

Commissioner Nakisha Skinner received confirmation that many of the recipients did not have active DraftKings accounts — or had never even opened one. A full marketing database of both account holders and potential customers appears to have been combined into one mass email.

Shortly after the missive was sent, DraftKings posted on X (formerly Twitter) an announcement that an email was sent in error:

Included in the email was an explanation that “Since two or more golfers tied for the same winning position, your bet(s) was settled using Dead Heat Reduction rules. A ‘Dead Heat Reduction’ is calculated by dividing the odds proportionally among the number of winners for a particular position (i.e. finishing place) in the event. Since this calculation resulted in a payout less than your wager, we are issuing you a bonus bet for the amount of your wager as a one-time courtesy.”

Golfer Aaron Rai won the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, while two players tied for third place and five more tied for seventh. Most sportsbooks pay a lesser amount if the player’s share combines payouts that are inside as well as outside of the predicted result.

So if, for example, a bettor wagered on veteran American Billy Horschel to finish in the top 10, the bet would not be paid out in full; a modest reduction would ensue, because more than 10 players can be said to have finished in the top 10. The same would be true if a gambler bet on one player in a threesome to compile the lowest score, only to have their golfer tie for the best score in that group.

China match fixing scandal also addressed by board

In a last-minute addition to the commission’s agenda, the board voted to suspend wagering in Massachusetts on all Chinese Super League soccer matches pending further investigation.

Earlier this week, 43 people were banned for life — 38 of them players — by the Chinese Football Association for match fixing as the result of a two-year investigation involving 120 separate contests. One person has been sentenced to life for receiving more than $10 million in bribes, a commission official said, while a former top executive was sentenced to 11 years in prison.

“We don’t want this in our catalog,” Commission Chair Jordan Maynard said of the Super League matches that most or all sportsbooks in the state have been offering.