NJ Man Sues FanDuel Over Losses: Was on Self-Inclusion List

A man in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey has filed a lawsuit against the country's largest online sports betting company, FanDuel.  The suit claims that FanDuel breached its own policy by failing to pay him his full winnings after pulling out of an active bet.

Michael Wadlow, 35, filed the suit on Oct. 4 in New Jersey Superior Court alleging he self-excluded from a bet with a $5,800 cash-out option and was only refunded his inital $500 wager.

Wadlow says in self-excluding, he was relying on FanDuel's website, which says that "active and pending wagers will not be canceled" for anyone who self-excludes.

A FanDuel spokesperson declined to comment on pending litigation,

The Daily Voice has since been advised that FanDuel does abide by New Jersey law 13:69G-2.3, which mandates that bets made by those who appear on the self-inclusion list must be canceled.

From the Daily Voice:

Wadlow's suit said that he placed a four-team parlay wager on FanDuel on May 15, 2024. He wagered $500 for a potential payout of $55,250, he told Daily Voice.

He needed Carlos Alcaraz to win Wimbledon, the Boston Celtics to win the NBA Championship, Xander Schauffele to win the PGA Tour, and the Yankees to win the World Series, which is still pending.

The odds were 110:1.

And so, on July 29, when three of the four legs on Wadlow's bet were successful and he had an active cash-out option of $5,800, he self-excluded.

"I was under the impression that my bet would not be canceled," he said on a call with Daily Voice.

It wasn't until Wadlow was checking his bank accounts weeks later and he saw a $500 refund from FanDuel that he realized he never got the $5,800 that he says he is owed.

The suit claims that the voiding of said bet has caused  “significant financial harm and potential future loss. Plaintiff reasonably expected the wager to continue based on the clear representations of FanDuel’s website. The action by FanDuel denied Plaintiff the opportunity to profit from a successful wager and caused emotional distress from the breach of trust.”

Wadlow tells the Daily Voice he would never had hit "cash-out" before self-excluding had he known how this would play out.

"What happened here is atrocious," Wadlow tells Daily Voice. "It's egregious. I lost tens of thousands of dollars to FanDuel."

“Despite FanDuel’s assurance, Plaintiff’s wager was voided following the self-exclusion, and only the original $500 stake was refunded," his suit states.

The self-inclusion concept is something relatively new adopted by regulated sports betting companies in the U.S.  Offshore sportsbooks and pay per head bookies typically do not present this option to their customers.