Three Lawmakers Press Six Sportsbooks and Prediction Markets Over VIP Programs
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Reps. Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Valerie Foushee (D-NC) sent letters this week to six companies — sportsbooks BetMGM, Caesars, DraftKings, and Fanatics, along with prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket — demanding detailed information about their VIP and rewards programs. The letters, addressed to each company's CEO, give every recipient until November 5 to respond to a list of specific questions.
What the letters are asking
According to the letters, the lawmakers want each operator to disclose how many customers are enrolled in its VIP tier, the average change in those customers' wins and losses over a six-month window, and how much revenue the program generates. They also ask how many customers who tried to cut back or close their accounts were instead offered perks to keep playing, whether VIP managers are coached to build personal relationships that encourage continued betting, and whether the operator weighs wagering history, self-limiting attempts, or signs of financial hardship before granting VIP status. Each company is separately asked whether it uses artificial intelligence to track and target bettors with perks or promotions.
The backdrop: an AI-targeting report and a parallel state probe
The letters lean on reporting that found DraftKings uses AI models to identify the bettors most likely to keep losing money, and on an earlier case in which a reporter was elevated to VIP status after betting in a pattern consistent with a problem gambler for ten weeks. The lawmakers have pressed FanDuel previously over a celebrity video sent to a VIP customer to keep them engaged. Separately, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission is already running its own review of how licensed operators use AI, having sent more than 70 questions to operators with a November 3 deadline — two days ahead of the congressional letters' own cutoff. Massachusetts bars the use of AI that is known or reasonably expected to make a gambling platform more addictive, a rule a commissioner has described as close to unique among states.
Why it matters to bettors
None of this changes how any operator's VIP program works today, and the letters carry no legal force on their own — they're a request for information, not an enforcement action. But they add to a building pile of congressional and state scrutiny of how sportsbooks and prediction markets court their heaviest users, right as prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket face a separate, escalating legal fight over whether their sports-related contracts are gambling products at all. Bettors who use a VIP or rewards tier on any of the named platforms may eventually see those programs' internal practices become more visible, or more constrained, depending on how operators respond and whether state regulators act on what surfaces.