EFF: DraftKings Uses AI to Behaviorally Target Chronic Gamblers

An AI model trained on betting records

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reported on 24 September 2026 that the online sports betting company DraftKings is using AI to target customers who are most likely to place losing bets and to respond to gambling promotions. According to the New York Times, which first described the practice on 19 September, DraftKings trains a machine learning model on its customers' betting records to identify losing gamblers.

Once the model flags such customers, the company sends them targeted advertising designed to bring them back to the site to place more bets, which DraftKings expects to be losing ones as well. EFF notes that the firm has a business incentive to keep losing gamblers returning, because those are the users that generate its revenue.

Problem gamblers are the likely targets

EFF describes the practice as a form of online behavioral advertising, in which companies personalise the ads they show people using the data collected about them. The more data a company holds, the more precisely it can choose its target.

The organisation argues that people classed as problem gamblers, who keep gambling despite harm to themselves, their finances and their relationships, are highly likely to be caught by such a model. Re-engaging them through promotions keeps them on the platform and turns their vulnerability into profit, instead of mitigating the risk, EFF writes.

Why AI magnifies the harm

EFF says behavioural advertising is not new, but AI has intensified its effects. A model needs ever more data to train and refine, and because AI works as a black box, the people who build it can rarely predict which data points matter most, which pushes companies to collect more. Faster processing of enormous data sets multiplies the harm.

The same data feeds the surveillance industry: EFF points to reporting that data collected for ad placement is sold to insurance companies, banks, and state and federal law enforcement agencies such as CBP, while ICE has published a Request for Information on how commercial Big Data and Ad Tech providers could support investigations.

First-party data and the case for a ban

EFF stresses that DraftKings appears to rely only on first-party data, the information it collects directly from its own users, and does not buy third-party data for the model. That, the organisation argues, is why rules that only restrict third-party data sharing and selling would not be enough to stop predatory advertising, and why policymakers should ban online behavioral advertising outright.

EFF also points people to tools for limiting tracking, including its Surveillance Self Defense project and the Privacy Badger browser extension.