DraftKings Sportsbook customers lost about $300,000 in combined funds after their login information was compromised from other websites, the online sports betting operator said in a statement Monday.
DraftKings intended to refund those accounts impacted, the operator added. The company also urged customers to use unique passwords for its accounts.
The DraftKings statement also comes after numerous reports that similar issues had been occurring with accounts being created in prominent poker players’ names at BetMGM.
What DraftKings Sportsbook said
DraftKings president and cofounder Paul Liberman issued the following statement on Twitter, in part:
We have seen no evidence that DraftKings’ systems were breached to obtain this information. We have identified less than $300,000 of customer funds that were affected, and we intend to make whole any customer that was impacted.
We strongly encourage customers to use unique passwords for DraftKings and all other sites, and we strongly recommend that customers do not share their passwords with anyone, including third party sites for the purposes of tracking betting information on DraftKings and other betting apps.
BetMGM has offered this response to ESPN and other outlets via a company spokesperson:
“We’re aware of a potential incident and are actively investigating. The security of our patrons’ accounts is of the utmost importance to us. We encourage any impacted patrons to contact our customer service department directly.”
While online gambling operators are now on high alert, questions remain about why protocols did not stop some of the activity from occurring in the first place.
Users respond to DraftKings
Users on Twitter said they still hadn’t gotten a response from customer service, and encouraged the operator to add a 1-800 number for issues.
Many states have implemented the ability to use two-factor authentication — including a code sent via text message upon login — to make accounts more secure.
Josh Cooper, 39, told Yahoo Sports that hackers attempted to withdraw more than $19,000 from his DraftKings account.
“I got extremely lucky,” Cooper said. I think that I was just right there while it happened, logged in, able to hit the cancel button as soon as it popped up.”
