A former Jacksonville Jaguars employee now serving a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence after embezzling more than $22 million of the pro football team’s money and blowing it on fantasy sports is now suing FanDuel for “ceaselessly enticing” him to gamble it all away. Amit Patel says the online betting platform inundated him with “relentless financial incentives, lavish trips, event tickets and other gifts” worth more than $1.1 million, according to a $250 million lawsuit filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.
Among other perks, FanDuel paid for Patel to attend the Super Bowl , a Formula One Grand Prix event in Miami, the 2023 NCAA College Football Playoff championship game and the 2021 and 2022 Masters Tournaments, the complaint states. It noted that Patel was also given a “customized basketball jersey with [Patel’s] FanDuel username” on the back — all of which were meant to “creat[e] the illusion that [Patel] was a successful gambler.” Patel, 31, lost some $20 million between late 2019 and early 2023, “as his gambling addiction disorder was exploited by Defendants and grew progressively worse,” according to the complaint.
FanDuel knew Patel worked for the Jaguars, knew he wasn’t allowed to bet on football, knew he was a gambling addict, and should have known the money Patel was betting was stolen, but purposely ignored all the signs, leading to “the complete devastation of [his] professional, personal, and financial life,” Patel’s compla.
