At the peak of his sports betting career, Eric Stevens thought nothing of throwing down “50 dimes” on a sporting event — a staggering amount of $50,000 on a single game.
By the fall of 2020, an unprecedented football season in the throes of a global pandemic, the five-figure sum became a pittance for the Florida sharp bettor. In Week 6 of the NFL regular season, Stevens took home more than $2.1 million on a $2 million, two-team moneyline parlay on the Detroit Lions (-159) at Jacksonville and the Dolphins (-385) vs. the Jets. He also withstood a sweat when the Saints edged the Chargers 30-27 in a Monday night game in which Drew Brees orchestrated a 17-point comeback. Stevens apparently won $448,000 on the $1.4 million moneyline wager.
Both wagers were a drop in the hat compared to the Big Kahuna. As the calendar turned to October, Stevens turned heads by placing a three-leg parlay at DraftKings that would have carried a payout in excess of $8.5 million, if successful. Stevens wagered $3 million in total on two identical wagers parlaying three football futures wagers: the Green Bay Packers to win the NFC North, combined with the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs to win their respective divisions in the SEC regular season. (The bet lost due to the Georgia leg.)
.@DKSportsbook takes its biggest mobile sports bet ever:
A $3 million three-team parlay:
Packers to win NFC North (-360)
Georgia to win SEC East (-110)
Alabama to win SEC West (-670)Bet would win over $5.5 million.
Placed at 10:49 a.m. Tuesday and verified via screenshot.
— Ben Fawkes (@BFawkes22) October 6, 2020
According to time stamps obtained by Sports Handle, the wagers were placed on Oct. 6, 2020, at 10:49 ET. Stevens claims that he received verbal authorization from John Avello, director of sportsbook operations at DraftKings, to place out-of-state wagers from Florida on his DraftKings New Jersey app through a messenger bettor located in the Garden State.
Avello, one of the nation’s most respected bookmakers, became familiar with Stevens during his decade-plus tenure through 2018 at the Wynn Las Vegas sportsbook. The $3 million parlay is believed to be the largest bet Avello has ever accepted while employed at a legal U.S. sportsbook.
But days after placing the mammoth wager, Stevens found himself in a bit of a quandary. By Oct. 23, Stevens received word that his New Jersey had been abruptly frozen by the company. Messenger betting, which occurs when an out-of-state customer places a wager in another state via proxy, is prohibited in the state under New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) regulations. Proxy betting is also prohibited by DraftKings under the company’s and conditions.
No licensee shall knowingly accept a wager from a person on behalf of any other person. No licensee shall knowingly allow a person to make a wager utilizing the of another person.
—Rule 13:69N-1.10 — New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, Permanent Sports Betting Rules
The lengthy 15-month drama ended on Feb. 18, five days after the Super Bowl, when DraftKings agreed on a stipulation of settlement with the New Jersey Office of Attorney General. Under the settlement, which became public Thursday evening, DraftKings will pay a fine of $150,000.
On Friday, Stevens seemed refreshed after spending the last two days attending the Florida high school state basketball championships in Lakeland.
With the saga in the rear-view mirror, Stevens told Sports Handle that he feels vindicated.
“I’m extremely relieved and I’m very thankful of the (DGE). It did take a long time, but they were very thorough and it was well worth the wait,” Stevens told Sports Handle in exclusive interview. “I feel vindicated on all levels.”
Sports Handle initially broke the story of the suspended DraftKings with a 2,700-word feature in November 2020.
Long-lost funds 5o2g2e
The prolonged investigation may provide a cautionary tale for bettors looking to enlist a proxy to place a large bet. Around the time DraftKings suspended Stevens’ , there were strong indications from sources that the Florida bettor had $15 million or more in funds outstanding that were frozen.
Stevens immediately enlisted a legal team, which he thanked profusely on Friday for helping him emerge out of the pickle. Since the Supreme Court’s historic PASPA decision in 2018, the case arguably ranks as the most challenging to arise for a state regulator.
Last March, online sportsbook Tennessee Action 24/7 had its license suspended by state regulators in the wake of three separate incidents involving purported money laundering, credit card fraud, and illegal proxy betting allegations. But in its short time in Tennessee, Action 24/7 circled the sports betting waters as a small minnow compared to sharks such as DraftKings, BetMGM, and FanDuel.
Some other proxy betting cases have carried the threat of prosecution due to the participation of offshore books. After entering into a non-prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department, CG Technology LP, formerly Cantor Gaming, paid a fine of $22.5 million to federal authorities in 2016. The company acknowledged “egregious and systemic violations” of anti-money laundering provisions of the Bank Secrecy Act, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. The company, according to the settlement, violated multiple federal laws pertaining to proxy betting.
The New Jersey DGE judgment, meanwhile, requires DraftKings to permanently close Stevens’ and return the funds from the to Stevens. For now, the exact total that Stevens is set to receive is unclear, as the total is redacted in the civil complaint. It also appears, according to a source, that Stevens will be absolved of all criminal wrongdoing and will not be charged criminally in the case.
The New Jersey DGE did not respond to a request for comment Friday afternoon.
During Super Bowl LIV in Florida, Stevens received an invitation from DraftKings to watch the game from the company’s suite at Hard Rock Stadium. Stevens told Sports Handle in 2020 that while at the game, he instructed his proxy to place a $900,000 wager on the San Francisco 49ers from his New Jersey . Furthermore, Stevens claimed that he made the call as he stood near DraftKings CEO Jason Robins.
Stevens also said that before placing the call, he asked Avello if he could make the wager in that manner. Over the course of the investigation, New Jersey officials determined that Stevens placed an in-game wager through the New Jersey proxy, with knowledge of and in the presence of DraftKings personnel.
DraftKings, which did not make Robins or Avello available for comment, provided Sports Handle with an updated statement on Friday afternoon.
“Our extensive investigation into this matter revealed no evidence that the customer in question received authorization or guidance from anyone at DraftKings to engage in proxy betting,” the company maintained.
And FanDuel pledges $100k for "problem gambling" on the same day.
DraftKings hit with $150,000 after proxy bet breach https://t.co/dps3Fi8rAE
— Dennis Justice (@JusticeForNC) March 4, 2022
As to the mammoth Packers-SEC football parlay, Avello told Sports Handle in November 2020 that he had no knowledge that the two parlays may have been placed by a New Jersey proxy while Stevens was out of the state. In 2019, however, DraftKings became aware that a New Jersey proxy accessed the bettor’s while Stevens was physically located in Florida, according to the investigation. A geolocation velocity check showed that the was accessed in Florida, then accessed in New Jersey mere minutes later, court documents indicate.
Stevens also told Sports Handle in 2020 that previously, he had received a written authorization from Wynn staff to place wagers using a proxy while Avello was employed with the company. By the time Avello moved to DraftKings, according to Stevens, he received verbal authorization from Avello to place interstate wagers through a proxy on his New Jersey . DraftKings vigorously denied those claims, describing Stevens’ interpretation of the arrangement as “patently false.”
Done for good? 2t2l70
Stevens said on Friday that he hasn’t placed a single bet on sports since he had his DraftKings suspended. He asserted that he isn’t bitter at DraftKings, but does not plan to place a bet with the company ever again.
“My relationship with DraftKings is over, by my choice,” Stevens said without hesitation.
Under the judgment, DraftKings is required to submit to New Jersey regulators a set of internal controls with detailed training procedures for detecting and preventing bettor attempts to place wagers via proxy.
In the New Jersey and Tennessee cases, a one-day suspension would have sent the appropriate message to everyone.
Other states better wise up and stop looking at sports betting and other gaming as a "gravy train" or these incidents will motivate Congress to take this all over. pic.twitter.com/lk0qQa1yKV
— Dennis Justice (@JusticeForNC) March 4, 2022
Stevens apparently is still allowed to bet on sports at legal sportsbooks, if accepted by the companies. But soured by the experience, he does not appear ready to return to sports betting anytime soon.
“I just don’t feel comfortable with the security of that kind of money in an that can be frozen,” he stated.
