DraftKings faces federal lawsuit over micro-betting patents
Sports betting operator DraftKings is facing a patent infringement lawsuit filed in New Jersey federal court concerning its micro-betting offerings. The lawsuit was brought last week by Micro-Gaming Ventures, LLC, a Texas-based entity.
Also read: Misleading gambling promos? DraftKings faces class action lawsuit – SigmaPlay
Lawsuit alleges infringement of five patents
Filed on Friday, 9 May 2025, in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, the alleges that DraftKings’ sportsbook platform infringes on five specific patents. These patents reportedly relate to technology underpinning micro-betting and location-based wagering functionalities.
Also read: Interaction in sports betting: Microbetting
Focus on in-play betting technology
Micro-betting, often referred to as in-play betting, enables users to place wagers on discrete moments within a sporting event, such as the result of the next pitch in a baseball game or the outcome of the next play in football. This segment has emerged as a major growth area within the U.S. sports betting market.
The lawsuit says about the purported advantages of the patented inventions, stating they “provide many advantages over the prior art, and in particular improved the operations of managing micro-bets within larger macro-events and authorising users based on their locations.“
It further stresses the technology’s ability to determine “when a micro-bet is available to bettors and thereafter when the micro-bet has closed,” noting the increasing importance of this capability as micro-bets resolve rapidly from play to play.
Also read: Fast-Paced Micro-Betting: Stranomitis shares insights at SiGMA
Patents predate widespread legalisation
According to the complaint, the patents-in-suit were developed between 2010 and 2013 by inventors Michael Shore, Alfonso Chan, Luis Ortiz, and Kermit Lopez. This timing places the inventions’ origins well before New Jersey’s move to legislate online gambling in February 2013 and the landmark 2018 Supreme Court decision (Murphy v. NCAA) that opened the door for widespread legal sports betting across the United States.
The lawsuit specifically claims that DraftKings’ mobile application and website infringe on patent claims related to:
- Determining the availability and closure windows for micro-bets.
- Randomising the available micro-bets presented to users.
- Authorising users based on their geographic location.
The filing also points to DraftKings’ $195 million acquisition of micro-betting technology provider SimpleBet in 2024 as indicative of the significant commercial value placed on this type of technology.
Also read: France: ANJ rules against microbetting – SigmaPlay
Plaintiff seeks damages and jury trial
Micro-Gaming Ventures is seeking monetary damages for alleged past infringement and demands an accounting of all infringing activities by DraftKings. The company has requested a trial by jury.
The choice of the New Jersey district court as the venue is justified in the lawsuit by citing DraftKings’ maintenance of an office in Hoboken, New Jersey.
