ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — New Jersey’s gaming regulators have imposed a total of $40,000 in fines against three entities, including two sportsbooks and a technology firm, for various infractions such as accepting bets on unauthorized events and on games that had already concluded.
On Monday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement released details of these penalties, revealing that DraftKings was fined $20,000, while both Rush Street Interactive NJ and the sports betting technology company Kambi were each fined $10,000.
Documents made public by the state indicate that Rush Street placed 16 bets totaling $1,523 in November 2021 on a college basketball matchup between the University of North Carolina-Asheville and Tennessee Tech University, even after the game concluded with a victory for UNC. Kambi reported that its traders failed to manually remove this particular game from their betting options due to a connectivity issue with their sports data provider, which prevented them from receiving timely updates. Kambi has since revised its procedures and conducted retraining of its staff to ensure similar issues do not reoccur in the future.
Kambi, headquartered in Malta, did not respond to requests for comments following the announcement. Similarly, Rush Street and DraftKings also had no immediate statements regarding the fines. Notably, DraftKings ceased its association with Kambi in 2021.
Additionally, in March 2022, Rush Street accepted seven bets amounting to nearly $2,900 on three games of Magic City Jai Alai after the outcomes were already known. Kambi stated that it experienced a network issue that led to the acceptance of these late bets.
In another instance, in February 2022, Rush Street accepted 13 wagers totaling $8,150 on a Professional Golf Association event after it had commenced. Kambi attributed this oversight to a new trader failing to accurately input the closing time for bets, necessitating retraining for both the trader and her supervisor.
DraftKings, on the other hand, received fines related to accepting bets on non-approved events, including Russian basketball games over a nine-month period in 2020 and 2021. The company ultimately voided more than $61,000 in bets and refunded customers upon directive from the regulator.
In this case, Kambi indicated to the regulators that it misclassified the Russian basketball league as one eligible for wagering in New Jersey, and DraftKings admitted it did not identify the error.
Furthermore, in 2020, DraftKings accepted 484 bets on unauthorized table tennis matches, with Kambi misconfiguring the events for betting which lacked the conditions mandated by state regulations. In February 2022, DraftKings faced criticism for taking pre-season NFL bets that involved specific players, lacking clarity regarding the information linked to those bets. In total, 182 wagers worth nearly $7,000 were later voided and refunded.
