FanDuel Defends VIP Program in Letter to Members of Congress

FanDuel has pushed back against three members of Congress who demanded the sportsbook shut down its VIP program, sending a detailed letter defending its responsible gaming practices, customer protections and the structure of its high-roller rewards system. The response, sent Friday to Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC), argues that VIP customers are held to the same standards as every other bettor on the platform.

The letter is FanDuel’s most detailed public accounting yet of how its VIP program actually works, coming after weeks of scrutiny sparked by a personalized Bryce Harper video sent to a customer who has since sued the operator for alleged predatory behavior.

What Sparked the Scrutiny

The controversy traces back to a Philadelphia Inquirer report detailing how Terry Thompson, a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania bettor, received a 21-second Cameo greeting from Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper in November 2024 as part of his FanDuel VIP experience. Thompson had reportedly wagered roughly $18.5 million on the platform and lost about $1.5 million, according to a lawsuit filed on his behalf. Harper has said he believed the video was a personal holiday greeting arranged through Cameo and had no knowledge it would be used as a promotional reward tied to a VIP betting tier, adding he would not have recorded it had he known the circumstances.

Lawmakers escalated the matter this month, sending letters to both FanDuel CEO Christian Genetski and to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLBPA interim executive director Bruce Meyer, calling the episode “deeply disturbing” and giving all parties until Aug. 24 to respond in writing. The letter to FanDuel included eight questions, including whether VIP hosts have sent similar celebrity videos to other bettors and what internal safeguards exist to stop hosts from courting customers already showing signs of problem gambling.

FanDuel’s Defense

In its response, FanDuel said its VIP account managers are salaried employees whose compensation is not tied to a customer’s wins or losses, pushing back on the suggestion that hosts have a financial incentive to keep struggling bettors wagering. The company said VIP employees complete the same responsible gaming training required of all staff within 30 days of hire, refreshed annually, plus additional quarterly sessions and ongoing refreshers specific to VIP account management as new tools and processes roll out.

“Organizationally, customer protection informs decisions we make — that includes FanDuel’s VIP program, which is built to operate within that responsible gaming framework rather than around it,” the operator wrote, according to the letter. FanDuel added that VIP customers are heavily screened before receiving an invitation to the program and retain access to standard safeguards such as deposit limits, timeouts and self-exclusion tools, which the company says can actually help staff identify problem gambling patterns faster than with non-VIP customers.

The company also noted its practices fall under the regulatory frameworks of the 26 U.S. jurisdictions where it currently operates, and pointed to prior correspondence with the same lawmakers dating back to last May on customer-protection matters.

What Happens Next

FanDuel’s letter does not directly commit to shutting down the VIP program, which the lawmakers explicitly demanded. The Aug. 24 deadline still looms for MLB and the MLBPA to answer a separate set of questions about whether players should be barred entirely from personalized marketing tied to sportsbook loyalty tiers — a debate playing out as the league’s collective bargaining agreement, which currently permits player endorsement deals with betting operators, is set to expire Dec. 1.

The episode adds to a wave of regulatory attention on how operators court and retain high-volume bettors, a dynamic bettors can track alongside FanDuel’s sportsbook review and the platform’s current sign-up terms via the FanDuel promo code page for context on how the operator structures its offers for new and existing customers.