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Maryland regulators have approved a series of consent agreements with monetary penalties, including a near six-figure payment from DraftKings for marketing to underage persons.
The company agreed to pay $94,400 as part of an agreement with the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Agency after self-reporting a violation in January.
According to a spokesman for the agency, DraftKings sent sports wagering marketing materials to a group of people that included daily fantasy sports customers who were under the age of 21.
In Maryland, the minimum age to wager on sports is 21 years old, while the minimum age to participate in daily fantasy sports is 18.
Under state law, companies are prohibited from marketing sports wagering to people under 21.
According to the consent agreement approved on Thursday (August 24), DraftKings has taken “corrective measures to ensure future compliance with the regulations,” although those actions are not specified.
The company committed a similar infraction in Ohio around the same timeframe, receiving a $350,000 fine from the Ohio Casino Control Commission for sending mailers to underage players in November 2022 ahead of the state’s January 1 launch.
In total, five online sports wagering companies received penalties from the Maryland commission, with Rush Street Interactive, Penn Entertainment, FanDuel and PointsBet also facing penalties ranging from $250 to $14,000 over violations that occurred between December 2022 and March 2023.
The highest of those penalties was $14,000 for PointsBet, which was related to violations regarding maintenance and use of the sportsbook’s reserve account, as well as a requirement to have an independent audit of annual financial statements.
Four land-based sportsbooks — Greenmount OTB, Long Shot’s, Riverboat on the Potomac and the Fanatics Sportsbook at FedEx Field — also received fines ranging from $250 to $1,000 for infractions in February and March.
“After a potential violation is identified, time is needed to investigate the issue and determine the outcome,” said Seth Elkin, director of communication for the commission.
“There were a number of sports wagering consent agreements presented to the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Control Commission last week, but the issues that were involved covered several months, going back as far as December 2022.”
