How DraftKings Uses AI to Target Vulnerable Gamblers

• DraftKings is leveraging machine learning models to identify users likely to place losing bets and systematically targeting them with promotions to increase platform engagement.
• This practice exploits vulnerable gamblers, prioritizing corporate profit over the significant financial and emotional harm inflicted on users.

How AI Magnifies Ad-Tech Harms

• AI allows companies to process massive datasets at high speeds, significantly increasing the precision and scale of behavioral targeting.
• Because AI models often function as "black boxes," companies are incentivized to hoard ever-increasing amounts of data, hoping to improve model performance without fully understanding which inputs the AI uses.

Regulatory Challenges and Surveillance Implications

• The use of "first-party data" by DraftKings demonstrates that policies targeting only third-party data sales are insufficient to curb predatory advertising.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) argues for a total ban on behavioral advertising to remove the incentive for companies to collect pervasive user data.
• Behavioral ad-tech data is frequently repurposed by surveillance industries, including insurance companies, financial institutions, and government agencies like ICE and CBP, for investigations and profiling.