A Pennsylvania federal judge has denied DraftKings’ bid to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), which alleges the sports betting giant misused the likenesses of MLB players without their permission. U.S. District Judge Karen Marston ruled on Monday that the union had sufficiently shown that DraftKings violated players’ publicity rights by using their names and headshots for commercial purposes.
The MLBPA initially filed the lawsuit in September, accusing both DraftKings and its competitor FanDuel of “flagrantly” using the names, images, and likenesses of nearly all active MLB players on their betting platforms without securing licenses. The union argued that such use was in violation of the players’ publicity rights.
DraftKings responded by asserting that it merely provided the same statistics, news, and betting odds that traditional media outlets offer, and that no court had previously ruled that “publicly-available, newsworthy statistics” could result in right-of-publicity liability. The company also argued that its usage of player likenesses did not violate any laws because the information was publicly available.
In contrast, FanDuel chose to settle the lawsuit in November, reaching a resolution with the MLBPA. DraftKings, however, faces continued legal action, as the judge has determined that the case against them will proceed.
In related developments, the MLBPA also dropped its allegations against Bet365, a British gambling company, in the same case, though it is unclear whether the two parties reached a settlement. Bet365 has not publicly commented on the matter.
The case, titled MLB Players Inc. v. DraftKings Inc., is currently being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, under case number 2:24-cv-04884.
The legal teams representing the parties involved include Jeffrey Kessler, David Greenspan, and Diana Leiden of Winston & Strawn for the MLBPA, and Megan Bannigan, David Bernstein, and Jared Kagan of Debevoise & Plimpton for DraftKings. Bet365 is represented by Airina Rodrigues and Arthur Zorio of Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck.
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