Draftkings
1 item across 1 edition. First seen Sun 20 Sep, last seen Sun 20 Sep.
- A New York Times investigation published on September 19, drawing on internal memos, presentations, betting records and interviews with more than 40 former employees, found DraftKings built a machine-learning model in 2023 that scored each online casino player by how much they were expected to lose after receiving a free bet or bonus, weighing play frequency, daily account balances and the ratio of losses to wagers. Staff called the output an "elasticity" score.
- The company aimed roughly $400 million in AI-automated promotions at the highest-scoring accounts in 2025, and executives credit data science and personalised promotions with lifting the sportsbook margin by 13% in 2025.
- Former employees said a parallel model meant to flag customers sliding toward gambling harm, begun by data scientist Nestor Hernandez in 2024, was shelved; Chief Responsible Gaming Officer Lori Kalani said leadership decided against predictive risk tools because the approach was not "evidence-based". DraftKings said it "rejects any implication" that its marketing is unfair, and that promotions go to customers showing "sustained, engaged use of our platform, not toward customers based on their losses".
- nytimes.com could not be opened from here, so the figures above are taken from the Yahoo News, Startup Fortune and Tech Times reports of the investigation. All of them trace to the single Times piece.