DraftKings sued by Micro-Gaming Ventures for patent infringement

Key points:

– DraftKings faces a lawsuit from Micro-Gaming Ventures

– Micro-Gaming Ventures claims to have pioneered certain in-play bet technologies, and that DraftKings’ use of certain in-play features infringes on their copyright

– Micro-Gaming Ventures claims five instances of patent infringement

DraftKings is facing a patent infringement lawsuit from Texas-based in-play bet technology company Micro-Gaming Ventures.

The lawsuit, filed to the US District Court for the District of New Jersey, alleges that DraftKings infringed five Micro-Gaming Ventures patents, including those related to in-play betting and location-based bets.

The state of New Jersey has personal jurisdiction over DraftKings, due to its prevalence as a business in the state.

Patents for Micro-Gaming Ventures’ patents trace back to the early 2010s, when ‘at the time of these pioneering efforts, there was no widely implemented technology used to address wagering on specific micro-events or outcomes, nor location-based authorisation for wagering,’ according to the lawsuit.

In all five instances, Micro-Gaming Ventures states it ‘has been harmed by DraftKings’s infringing activities.’ It claims DraftKings ‘has and continues to directly infringe’ on each of the five patents ‘by making, using, selling, importing and/or providing and causing to be used a website and mobile-phone app called “DraftKings Sportsbook,” which is an online sportsbook platform.’

Good to know: In its Q1 2025 report, revenue was up 20% year-on-year to $1.41bn

As such, Micro-Gaming Ventures has called for a trial by jury for the five infringements. While no exact pay-out has been specified, if successful in the lawsuit, Micro-Gaming Ventures has called for an adjudication that DraftKings did indeed infringe on its copyright, and that DraftKings pays damages to compensate for past and future infringement.

In other recent news, following its Q1 results report, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins and CFO Alan Ellingson spoke on a range of topics, including the emerging predictions market. They stated that, while it is still early days, it is a big topic of industry conversation, and that “this is happening whether you want it to or not.“

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Beth Turner

Gambling Writer

Beth Turner is a journalist and Senior Staff Writer at Players Publishing, where she contributes news and feature content to leading B2B gaming titles, including Gambling Insider, Gaming America, Sports Betting Focus and Trafficology. Based in the London area, she has been part of the editorial team since October 2023, progressing to Senior Staff Writer in February 2025.

In her role, Beth covers key developments within the global gambling and iGaming landscape, producing insightful reporting on regulatory shifts, operator strategy, sponsorship trends and emerging market activity.

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