The practice of messenger betting is not allowed in New Jersey, based on regulations that prohibit licensees from knowingly allowing a proxy to make a wager utilizing the account of another person. Despite the settlement, DraftKings denies any such arrangement. The bettor, who routinely placed risky seven-figure wagers through a proxy located in New Jersey, apparently had outstanding funds of at least $15 million in his DraftKings’ account when the company froze it in October 2020. The case centered on a purported arrangement DraftKings had with a VIP whale bettor that enabled the customer to place wagers on a New Jersey mobile sports betting app from his North Florida living room, nearly 900 miles from the Garden State’s southern border. Last week, New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) Director David Rebuck publicly addressed the high-profile incident for the first time since DraftKings settled with the state on Feb. Several months have passed since DraftKings’ settlement with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office in a case where regulators determined that the sportsbook operator failed to prevent a series of out-of-state proxy bets, headlined by a mammoth $3 million parlay placed in Florida.
