Gambling counselor speaking (left). FanDuel sign shown (right).Gambling counselor and FanDuel sign (Photos via Instagram and Imagn Images)
A gambling counselor has shared a stunning and heartbreaking story about how a 15-year-old client of hers managed to place nearly $900,000 worth of sports bets through the FanDuel sportsbook.

FanDuel is one of the world’s largest sportsbooks, with over 12 million registered users. The company has enjoyed a giant surge in customers, usage, and revenue ever since the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992 (PASPA) in 2018.

This groundbreaking ruling allowed each U.S. state to legalize sports gambling, with the Supreme Court arguing that the PASPA violated the Tenth Amendment.

Like every other sportsbook, FanDuel puts great emphasis on responsible gambling and offers various options to make sure customers are betting safely. Unfortunately, millions of people around the world have a gambling addiction, with the National Council on Problem Gambling estimating that about five million Americans struggle with compulsive gambling.

ODAAT Gambling Awareness spoke to a gambling addiction counselor and asked who her youngest client was.

A counselor then told the devastating story about how her 15-year-old client took the Social Insurance Numbers (SIN) belonging to his parents and grandmother and gambled nearly $900,000 on FanDuel.

The counselor said her client opened up four FanDuel accounts and got locked out of three of them. When they looked into the fourth account, they discovered that he used his grandmother’s SIN number to place $887,000 in bets in a single year.

Additionally, the teenager made bets with his schoolmates. If he had to pay them back, the boy would order food for them from Uber Eats.

FanDuel’s Options To Help Customers Gamble Responsibly

FanDuel sportsbook logo (Photo: Albert Cesare / USA TODAY NETWORK)
The sportsbook offers multiple programs and services to help its customers gamble responsibly and safely. This includes a counseling service through Kindbridge Behavioral Health, the Trusted Voices resource hub that works with youths on responsible gambling and options that help customers set deposit/spending limits.