We're Now At Four Fantasy Sports Apps That Aren't Paying Users For Some Reason

I am trying to signal-boost what’s become a concerning trend in the fantasy sports industry: I now count four different apps that have locked some user funds or are not processing all withdrawals.

My main interest is ensuring users are made whole, and that new players don’t sign up when their money may be at risk. I know some of the readers of this newsletter are in positions where you can help to force action. My secondary interest is pointing out that treating the fantasy vs. the house industry as something other than gambling is failing spectacularly outside of the top tier of operators.

Here’s the rundown:

• ThriveFantasy allegedly owes hundreds of thousands of dollars to players, with some withdrawals pending since October or perhaps even earlier. The company has made vague references to “investigations” of these users. From where I sit, there’s little reason for such an investigation to go on for multiple months and to provide people with no information about the status of their accounts and their money. Many of these users, meanwhile, are still allowed to play on the app; they just can’t withdraw.

• A newer app called Units launched in September; this week there has been a spate of users alleging their accounts have been locked after many of them won a sizable amount of money via parlays based on a golf event. Again, the app says users are “under investigation” while allegedly owed what appears to be tens of thousands of dollars or more. Hopefully, the investigations are concluded with transparency, and/or the users are able to access their money. In a worst-case scenario, users should at least get their initial deposits back.

• A smaller operator called Outlast DFS closed up quietly at some point this year, with reports on social media of people who allege they were unable to withdraw their balances.

• No House Advantage was the first example of this in the fantasy vs. the house space earlier this year. The app closed down while owing users money; another company, Betr, took on the obligation of making users whole.

I encourage the companies that still owe money to users to start being more transparent about what is going on, both in public and with their customers directly. The latter especially is lacking in all instances; there is no reason users shouldn’t get more detail about what terms and conditions they may have violated.

The problem for users of these apps is there is little recourse for them other than to attempt to create public pressure. If an app says that a customer violated their terms and conditions, that’s kind of “game over” for them. These apps mostly serve states that don’t have fantasy sports regulations, forcing complaints to go to state attorneys general or customer protection entities. It’s not likely such complaints are going to result in retrieving locked or lost funds. To state the obvious, if this were happening at a licensed sportsbook, a customer would have far more protection.

For the apps above that do serve states with fantasy regulation, it’s a window into how little efficacy those laws have in protecting customers. State fantasy regulations have not yet been invoked in any of the above situations, to my knowledge. As things stand, I would be wary of depositing in a state without strong DFS regulations.

Hopefully, shining a brighter light on these situations leads to favorable outcomes for the users who are unable to access their money.

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