DraftKings stunned Eric Avila last August when it closed his account for allegedly violating the platform’s terms of service. Shock turned to anger when he discovered the company was keeping the hundred bucks in his account. He had left the money there, but now it was inaccessible.
The Houston resident filed a consumer class action in the United States District Court in Boston alleging that he is the victim of a practice under which DraftKings retains millions of dollars properly belonging to bettors that use the site.
According to Avila’s complaint, the company locks users out of their accounts, citing undisclosed violations of its terms of service. The company then hides behind unspecified compliance requirements and denies users the ability to withdraw their balances, telling them they cannot access their funds because their accounts are closed.
Houston lawyers Curtis R. Waldo and Benjamin Gubernick represent Avila.
Waldo says it is egregious what DraftKings has done here. Avila used the platform in various ways over the years, had money in his account, and received no explanation for why DraftKings closed it.
The complaint says that from 2018 through August of the previous year, Avila used the DraftKings platform to place around 100 bets. DraftKings notified him that they had closed his account on September 15. In response, Avila reached out to a customer service rep for an explanation.
Waldo says that he wanted to resume doing what he had been doing on DraftKings. They told him he could not reactivate his account.
The service rep allegedly told Avila that DraftKings closed his account for violating the terms of use. However, the rep said the company couldn’t specify which rule Avila had violated.
Avila inquired about withdrawing his account balance when they deactivated his account. Nevertheless, the service rep allegedly told him that he could not withdraw funds because DraftKings had permanently closed the account.
