Report: FanDuel Agrees To Pay Jaguars $5 Million Over Patel Betting Scandal

ESPN reported Friday that FanDuel will pay the Jacksonville Jaguars about $5 million — a little less than one-quarter of the amount former employee Amit Patel embezzled from the team to play fantasy sports on FanDuel and other platforms over a 3½-year period.

According to the report, the NFL “encouraged” FanDuel to come to an agreement with the Jaguars. FanDuel is an official sports betting partner of the league and is partnered with seven NFL teams, but not Jacksonville. The Jaguars had previously asked FanDuel to reimburse it for some or all of the $22 million Patel stole, but as of February, the company was reportedly unwilling to pay.

FanDuel declined to comment on the settlement.

Patel, who on a CNN expose on sports betting in August said he “illegally borrowed money” from the Jaguars, was serving a 6½-year sentence in a federal prison after pleading guilty in late 2023 to federal charges of wire fraud and illegal monetary transactions. He was sentenced in March 2024. But in July, Patel was moved to Florida’s Duval County Jail after the state added six counts of state grand theft, which could add up to 30 years to Patel’s sentence.

Jags suing Patel, Patel suing FanDuel, too

In his role with the Jaguars, Patel oversaw the team’s virtual credit card program. He moved money from the program into personal and gambling accounts with FanDuel and other platforms. Besides spending the money placing bets, it was revealed in federal court documents that he spent money on travel, private jets, sports memorabilia, and more.

There are now multiple court cases in addition to the original case against Patel. The Jaguars early last year sued Patel for $66.6 million in damages in Florida state court, and in October 2024, Patel sued FanDuel, claiming that the company preyed on his gambling addiction and that FanDuel employees knew he worked for an NFL team and he should have been on an exclusion list.

In the lawsuit, Patel’s lawyer argues that “defendants knew and/or took intentional steps to avoid knowing that the money gambled by the plaintiff was stolen or otherwise not from a legitimate source.” The lawyer also wrote that FanDuel gave Patel “well over a million dollars in FanDuel credits” and “lavish gifts.”