DraftKings Goes On Offense When It Comes To Responsible Gaming This NFL Season

By Bill Speros Sep 3rd, 2025 12:45 PM EDT

Lori Kalani serves as Chief Responsible Gaming Officer for DraftKings.

The NFL betting season begins Thursday night, with more money expected to be legally wagered in the U.S. than ever before. The best sports betting sites continue to balance promoting responsible gaming with pushing high-margin plays like multi-leg parlays that defy probability.

By Super Bowl 60 on Feb. 8, 39 states will have live, legal sports betting. Missouri launches Dec. 1, just in time for what Chiefs fans hope is another deep playoff run — and perhaps a prelude to the “Royal Wedding” between Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift.

With each new state launch and the dawn of football season, DraftKings Chief Responsible Gaming Officer Lori Kalani sees opportunity.

“Our system and our RG program specifically is built to scale. We have more than 40 people who are looking at accounts that we think need to be reviewed. When we open another jurisdiction and people come to the legal sites, I think that's a real opportunity for us,” Kalani told Bookies.com.

Sports Betting RG Concerns Parallel To Social Media

DraftKings launched a new sweepstakes program this NFL season. It incentivizes customers to use responsible gaming tools, aiming to normalize their use and promote good habits. The book emailed its customers a breakdown of its Code Of Responsible Play over the Labor Day Weekend.

Kalani previously litigated on behalf of Facebook during its rapid growth. She draws parallels between teaching social media users about privacy controls and educating bettors about responsible play.

Her goal: to make responsible gaming part of DraftKings’ culture.

A formal definition of "Responsible Gaming" remains elusive. As Justice Potter Stewart famously opined about obscenity: “I know it when I see it.” Operators, regulators, and legislators have their own interpretations. DraftKings defines it as good play habits — setting limits on time and spending, and avoiding play while intoxicated or under duress.

“People often think about responsible gaming as something for people who have problems… Responsible gaming is good gaming habits," Kalani said. "Budgeting for this form of your entertainment. I really don't view responsible gaming as anything to do with problems. It's good play behavior that avoids problem gaming.”

Player Limits Akin To 'Counting Cards'

Kalani rebuts the notion that operators want customers “banned or bankrupt.” The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), however, continues to debate first-in-the-nation regulations on player limits.

“When you talk about us limiting people, that's in the context of what I would say is akin to somebody counting cards in a casino,” she said. "If the casino becomes aware that somebody is counting cards, they either limit that person or remove them."

“But with respect to responsible gaming, we're not reaching out and marketing to people who are on a cool off or on the self- exclusion list. But we're also reaching out when people are exhibiting certain behaviors that could potentially be high risk. And so, let's say somebody is on our app late in the middle of the night for several hours. 
We send them messages, prompting them and asking them to set limits around their time on the app. Or if people are canceling withdrawals, again, we are sending messages and trying to persuade them to use the tools available to them.”

Halt To Credit Card Wagers A 'Customer Experience' Concern

The MGC fined DraftKings $450,000 in July for accepting credit-card funded bets — which are not permitted in Massachusetts. Last week, DraftKings said it would end credit-card deposits nationwide, even in states where allowed. Kalani said the move was about "customer experience" and in the pipeline before the MGC's decision.

"Customers who were using credit cards often didn't realize that a credit card transaction is not a typical purchase with a credit card. And that there are cash advance fees associated and that the interest starts ticking immediately, as opposed to you have until your next statement,” Kalani said.

Separately, DraftKings faces a $14.2 million lawsuit in Iowa over voided golf wagers from the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Kalani didn’t comment on the case but said the company is working to make house rules clearer, possibly using AI chatbots to provide answers in bite-sized form.

“I spend a lot of time thinking about ‘How do you get all this information to people in small sound bites where it will resonate with them?’”