Rep. Tonko Unsatisfied with FanDuel’s Response, Renews Push for SAFE Bet Act Passage

Rep. Paul Tonko (D-NY) says FanDuel’s response to congressional questions about its VIP program did nothing to ease his concerns, and he’s using the moment to renew his push for federal sports betting reform. Tonko told Legal Sports Report this week that the operator is leaning on a “broken” responsible gaming model to deflect blame from itself and place it squarely on the customer.

The exchange traces back to a letter Tonko sent alongside Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Valerie Foushee (D-NC) demanding answers about FanDuel’s VIP program, sparked by a 2024 Bryce Harper Cameo video that surfaced publicly last month. The video had been sent to a customer who has since sued FanDuel, alleging the sportsbook used personalized celebrity outreach to keep him gambling despite mounting losses.

What FanDuel Did and Didn’t Answer

FanDuel’s Senior VP of public policy and sustainability, Cory Fox, responded to the lawmakers days after the letter arrived, defending the FanDuel sportsbook VIP program as operating within — not around — the company’s responsible gaming framework. FanDuel said VIP account managers are salaried and not compensated based on a customer’s wins or losses, and that VIP staff complete the same responsible gaming training as all employees, with additional quarterly refreshers specific to VIP account management.

But the lawmakers had posed eight direct questions, and Tonko noted FanDuel left five of them unanswered — including how many VIP bettors tried to cut back or close their accounts only to be offered exclusive perks instead, how many celebrity videos have been sent to keep members engaged, and whether the company targets VIP promotions at customers on losing streaks. Congress had also explicitly asked whether FanDuel would suspend or terminate the VIP program entirely; the company’s letter stopped short of committing to that.

Renewed Push for the SAFE Bet Act

Tonko is pointing to the incomplete answers as further justification for passing the SAFE Bet Act, federal legislation he introduced in the House alongside Blumenthal’s Senate companion bill. The measure would set minimum federal standards across marketing, affordability, and artificial intelligence, including a ban on sportsbook marketing during live game broadcasts, a prohibition on promotional language like “bonus bets” or odds boosts designed to induce wagering, and mandatory affordability checks before accepting deposits over $1,000 in 24 hours or $10,000 in 30 days.

The bill would also bar operators from using AI to track individual gambling habits for targeted promotions or to build products like microbets, ban prop bets on college and amateur athletes, and establish a national self-exclusion list. States would need Department of Justice approval of their sports betting programs every three years to keep operating legally under the framework. The legislation has sat with committee since being introduced in the 119th Congress, and operators including FanDuel have not publicly endorsed it.

For now, the standoff between Tonko’s office and FanDuel underscores the widening gap between lawmakers pushing for stricter guardrails and operators arguing their existing state-regulated frameworks already provide sufficient consumer protection — a debate likely to keep playing out as more sportsbook VIP practices draw scrutiny.