Michigan Regulators Review DraftKings' AI Targeting, VIP Program
The Michigan Gaming Control Board said this week it is reviewing concerns raised in two recent investigative reports about DraftKings' business practices, becoming at least the second state regulator to examine how the sportsbook operator uses artificial intelligence and runs its VIP program.
What the reports allege
The MGCB's review follows a New York Times investigation, published September 19, reporting that DraftKings used artificial intelligence and machine-learning tools to identify customers likely to keep losing money and target them with promotional offers designed to keep them betting. It also follows a separate ProPublica investigation in which a reporter spent ten weeks deliberately exhibiting behavior associated with problem gambling and was invited into DraftKings' VIP program rather than flagged for intervention.
What Michigan is doing about it
MGCB public information officer Lisa Keith said the agency takes player-protection concerns seriously, noting that Michigan's licensed operators are required to meet the responsible-gaming obligations laid out in state law and the board's own rules. Michigan does not currently have gaming regulations written specifically to address AI-driven marketing, a gap the review is expected to examine even as it evaluates whether DraftKings' existing conduct met the state's broader responsible-gambling requirements, including self-exclusion and deposit-limit protections.
The Michigan review comes roughly a week after the Massachusetts Gaming Commission opened its own examination of AI use across sportsbook operators in response to the same New York Times reporting, making Massachusetts the first state to signal it may move toward AI-specific rules for the industry.
Why it matters
DraftKings' AI-driven marketing has already drawn scrutiny this year, including a Congressional inquiry into its VIP program's treatment of high-spending customers. A state regulator formally reviewing the underlying investigative findings is a step beyond commentary or a request for information — it's the process that can lead to a compliance finding, a fine, or new state-level rules if the board concludes existing player-protection requirements were not met. For bettors, the review is an early signal of how individual states may start treating AI-personalized promotions differently from ordinary marketing going forward, a question with implications well beyond DraftKings alone as other operators use similar targeting tools.