Global bookmaker William Hill’s US division has recently sued a rival bookmaker known as FanDuel for the wholesale theft of their betting guides, designed to help US sports bettors familiarise themselves with the market.
On Tuesday the 23rd October, William Hill filed a civil suit in New Jersey’s federal court, accusing FanDuel of infringing copyright. The rival bookmaker has been said to be replicating William Hill’s “Hot To Bet Guide” – a simple-to-understand guide developed by Hill to help new bettors in New Jersey understand sports betting, ahead of the state’s launch of legal wagering, in June.
William Hill’s lawsuit alleges that FanDuel issued its own “Hot To Bet Guide” ahead of the bookmaker launching its own sports betting facility at New Jersey’s Meadowlands Racetrack. The bookmaker distributed the guide in both printed form (a pamphlet) and also on its online betting website.
Within the lawsuit, William Hill point to examples where FanDuel have copied text word-for-word – and some of the larger bodies of copied text includes specific wagering examples, in which the examples given are identical.
The big “monen shot” for William Hill, however, is where FanDuel forgot to remove William Hill’s name from the text. One example, was where FanDuel included the term “professional wagers offered by William Hill” – clearly forgetting to switch out Hill’s name from the guide.
According to court documents, William Hill is pushing for a jury trial, so that it can claim damages for the “irreparable injury” it has suffered as a result of FanDuel’s copyright infringement. Specifically, William Hill wants the court to award it “all damages sustained” via FanDuel’s shoddy practices and “all profits realized by FanDuel due to its wrongful acts,” plus statutory damages, legal fees and court costs.
In an interview with ESPN, William Hill US’s CEO Joe Asher said that his company wasn’t interested in being labeled as ‘litigious’ but said that FanDuel’s had acted “ridiculously”. If William Hill are successful in court, they’re already pledged to donate a significant portion of the damages awarded to fund creative writing programs in New Jersey universities.
Indeed, this isn’t the first mishap for the new bookmaker; earlier this year, FanDuel displayed vastly increased odds for a sporting event, and denied paying out a lucky punter $82,000 when he wagered on the event at the inflated odds. FanDuel did, however, pay the customer out in the end when they continued to receive significant public backlash. As for now, only time will tell as to whether or not FanDuel recover from this significant mistake.