If you’re a newbie, you’d probably think FanDuel is running some kind of a scam operation.
But it isn’t.
And they’re also not breaking any rules or laws.
In fact, this is how most casinos operate.
But, what exactly happened.
So, this guy on Reddit posts this:
This person is a newbie to the world of gambling. He was expecting that he could ask for a withdrawal of his deposit at any time, regardless of the amount he gambled.
Thing is he can. But, then he would then just be requesting a refund. And would in most cases forfeit any winnings.
Licensed online and offline casinos all over the world have this rule.
It’s there to protect them from money laundering activities.
Say, you were a crypto thief, whose genius plan was to deposit the stolen crypto, say a $100K at FanDuel, and then play $5,000 to make it look legit, eventually requesting a cashout of $95K in clean money.
You see casinos and sportsbooks know these tricks. In fact, this kind of money laundering is as old as the banking system.
So, in order to get your winnings, whether made through bonus money, or your original deposit, you have to playthrough the entire deposit amount.
A few betting sites even have a 5X playthrough requirement on the original deposit amount before a withdrawal can be requested. At least FanDuel has 1X.
Say, you need the money back and don’t want to play at all. Well, OK, you can but then it would just be a simple refund and that too back to exactly the same card or bank account it came from.
Also, a casino would probably be able to do this kind of a transaction only once or twice in a blue moon. Honestly speaking, majority would just cancel such cashout requests from the get go.
Your best course of action is to deposit the exact amount you’re willing to fully playthrough.
This thread also had a few interesting responses that might be more helpful in understanding the concept:
There’s probably some anti money laundering rules they’re working with too
If you deposit and park $500, you can’t just play $25 and then request a withdrawal for the full amount. They may issue a refund but the average full play thru means it’s 100% new money going to you.
But you’re right. If you deposit $1000 and only play a hundred and don’t feel like gambling and want to withdraw, there may be a process where it’s a refund and not a full withdrawal so it doesn’t look like it’s all ‘winnings’. Depending on your payment provider (venmo or PayPal) they may issue a 1099 for simply processing any amount over $600.
As you can see it’s more about casinos protecting themselves from potential law enforcement raids, than eating your deposit.
It’s the money laundering thing.
If you go into a physical casino and buy in for $8,000 of chips and make one bet for $10 and and then go to cash out, they’re going to have some big questions about that too.
A few years ago I deposited money on my state’s lottery website in hopes to be able to do a certain promo exploit, the promo didn’t work the way I wanted, I withdrew the money, and then got an email from lottery support asking basically “hey, WTF?” – I told them I had thought better of it and was waiting for a certain deposit bonus to be offered. It ended up being offered a few days later, I deposited, and then emailed support back letting them know the deposit they saw on my account was for the bonus I was waiting for. (But honestly I think I was trying to pull some BS stacking promotions that didn’t work together.)
There’s a lot of predatory stuff that happens in the casino world. This is one of the few things they’re not actively trying to screw you on.
FanDuel being regulated in the US has a proper KYC procedure in place. Yes, I agree, the chances of thieves washing their dirty money through the system is low. But, you can see where they come from. I mean sure, they take your ID, SSN, Utility Bill Scans and what not, but these things can be counterfeited. Identity theft is a multi-billion dollar business. FanDuel has to cover all the bases.
This brand is 100% legal in the US, so you don’t have to worry about them confiscating your money or winnings – without a valid reason, of course.
They wouldn’t. They can’t even if they wanted to. The Gaming Control Boards would cancel their license if they even tried cheating their customers.
As far as I know, they got a license in all the US States where sports betting is now legal.
Cashing out from FanDuel, provided everything else is sorted is simple
The procedure to withdraw money from your FanDuel is straightforward.
- Click the “My Bets” tab
- Press the Cashout button. Most of the time its color is set to green.
- Then you will have multiple options, such as to actually cashout, learn more about the entire process, or just cancel and head somewhere else.
- Once it goes through, your wallet should see the balance.
- The “Settled Bets” tab should now show “Cashed Out.”
- Also note that Cash outs aren’t accepted for every type of bet you place at FanDuel, such as changes in pitches due to bad weather or stadium maintenance issues, player injury or things like that. Basically, just like the insurance companies, certain “Acts of God” can also remove your ability to validate or get your wagers graded. So, Cashout option is disabled, albeit temporarily when such stuff happens.
- Also no withdrawal for bets are allowed made on a Bonus. I know it doesn’t make sense. But, hey, I don’t make the rules.
So hopefully it clears up any confusion.
Hit me up, if you have any questions.