DraftKings sued for patent infringement over “micro-betting”

DraftKings, the company behind the in-play betting app of the same name, is being sued over its “micro-betting.” Micro-Gaming Ventures, LLC, has filed a lawsuit in New Jersey federal court, where it intends to sue DraftKings over patent infringement.

Micro-betting has become incredibly popular in the US, with millions spent each month on small, impulsive wagers ranging from scores to plays. It’s become a huge growth area for iGaming, with DraftKings eying its next venture in the space, the prediction market.

Micro-Gaming Ventures has called into question DraftKings’ potential violation and patent infringement. Between 2010 and 2013, Alfonso Chan, Luis Ortiz, Kermit Lopez, and Michael Shore all worked on a micro-betting tech that was patented way before DraftKings rolled around with a similar concept.

DraftKings was originally launched as a fantasy sports app in 2012, and in 2018, moved into the gambling scene. This was in part thanks to the abolishment of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, which was found to be unconstitutional and allowed for sportsbooks to be legalized outside of Nevada.

Micro-Gaming’s patent appears to cover aspects of DraftKings’ app outside of the micro-betting. This includes authorizing bets and users based on their location, as well as determining when bets will be available to users.

From the lawsuit itself:

“… provide many advantages over the prior art, and in particular improved the operations of managing micro-bets within larger macro-events and authorising users based on their locations.”

On top of this, part of the evidence used is DraftKings’ purchase of SimpleBet in 2024. The $195 million acquisition is being used as an example of how valuable the tech is to them, and thus, to Micro-Gaming.

The company’s Q1 earnings for 2025 showed that the company was flying high, despite losing $170 million to winners. It has earned $1.4 billion just in that first quarter.

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