It’s been a tough year for sportsbook VIP hosts.
In March, five individuals were named as defendants in a lawsuit filed by Christopher Sage and Terry Thompson. Three of the VIP hosts worked at DraftKings and two at FanDuel. They were accused of incentivizing Sage and Thompson, who both suffer from gambling addiction, according to the lawsuit, to bet more.
Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that FanDuel sent Thompson a personalized message from Philadelphia Phillies star and two-time MVP Bryce Harper in November 2024. Thompson, an avid Philadelphia sports fan, reportedly placed $18.5 million in bets with FanDuel and lost $1.5 million, according to the lawsuit.
Sportsbook VIP Programs Under the Microscope
CasinoBeats spoke with author Danny Funt after the release of his book, “Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling.”
“I didn’t realize just how crucial the VIP side is to the betting business, and also how the online business opens the doors to just such a phenomenal level of perks for those customers, even beyond what was normal in casinos.”
In Thompson’s case, the perks included flights and tickets to the Super Bowl and games involving his beloved Philadelphia sports teams.
As Funt explains in his book, VIPs typically must wager at least $5,000 a week, though those amounts can often be much higher. His reporting noted that only 2-3% of US sports bettors qualify as VIPs, but that valuable minority produces 60-70% of revenue.
Funt touched on the sometimes questionable tactics used by VIP hosts when we spoke earlier this year.
One example that sticks out to me was a VIP host who’d worked at FanDuel remembered a colleague hearing that a customer’s dog had passed away. They sent a condolence gift basket that included a blanket with the dog’s picture printed on it. Wow. And their point was, like, ‘We want you to be loyal, not just to FanDuel and not just to the perks that we offer you, but to your host, so that if you’re ever thinking of reconsidering your betting or taking a break, know that you’ll lose all these perks, but also a friend in your VIP host.’ And that is so dicey.
There’s a lot of talk about responsible gambling in the sports betting industry. It’s difficult to understand how RG programs can co-exist with VIP programs. Funt tells the story of a former PointsBet employee saying she was the entire RG department.
“That was the culmination of not just interviewing a lot of people in other departments at sportsbooks who say they feel like there’s an unspoken rule that you don’t want to intervene, from an RG standpoint, unless a customer does something explicitly worrisome,” he said. “Like saying, ‘You know, I have a problem.’ Otherwise, there’s just a lot of pressure to look the other way, especially when you’re talking about VIP customers.”
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