TLDR
- Iowa regulators fined FanDuel $95,000 for offering wagers that were not approved under state law
- The penalty covers two separate cases: basketball bets and soccer card props
- FanDuel refunded losses to customers after mistakenly allowing bets on a Philippine basketball league
- The soccer violation involved a single flagged parlay bet on yellow and red cards
- FanDuel has faced similar fines in Massachusetts and Ontario over the past year
The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has fined FanDuel Sportsbook $95,000. The penalty stems from two cases where the operator offered bets that were not permitted under state rules.
FanDuel runs its Iowa operation through Betfair Interactive US LLC. The company admitted to both violations and agreed to pay the fines.
The Commission approved the settlement in late July 2026. The total fine was split between two separate issues.
Basketball Wagers Violated League Rules
The first case involved the Maharlika Pilipinas Basketball League, a league based in the Philippines. Iowa law only allows bets on international basketball if the league is top tier in its country and recognized by FIBA.
The MPBL did not meet that standard. FanDuel reported the mistake to regulators in May 2025.
Between June 2024 and April 2025, customers placed 21,638 wagers on the league. The total handle reached $1.18 million, and FanDuel initially earned $60,692.19 in profit from those bets.
Once the issue was found, FanDuel refunded net losses to Iowa customers. Winners kept their payouts.
In July 2025, the company returned $154,898.99 to 1,665 customers. FanDuel also lowered its reported revenue by $60,110.03 to account for the error.
The company said it reviewed its basketball offerings after the mistake. It also added new checks to confirm that international leagues meet state requirements before bets go live.
Soccer Card Markets Also Broke State Ban
The second violation surfaced in July 2025 during a routine compliance check. Commission staff found FanDuel’s retail sportsbook was offering bets on yellow and red cards in international soccer matches.
Iowa’s rules ban bets tied to officiating decisions, and card calls fall under that category. FanDuel removed the markets as soon as it was told.
The company later pulled all card-related bets from its retail sportsbook while it worked on a fix. Only one wager was affected during the review period.
That bet was a $134.58 parlay with three legs, one of which involved a card market. The wager lost on all three legs.
Because the customer could not be identified, FanDuel gave up $44.86, the share tied to that leg, through the state’s unclaimed property process. The company also removed that amount from its August 2025 revenue report.
The Commission said both cases broke Iowa Code section 99F.3 and related rules. FanDuel agreed to pay $50,000 for the basketball case and $45,000 for the soccer case.
This is not FanDuel’s first run in with regulators over unapproved bets. Iowa previously fined the company $125,000, and Massachusetts issued a $15,000 fine, both tied largely to golf bets that included unauthorized LPGA markets.
In Ontario, regulators reprimanded FanDuel in January 2026 after the company accepted more than 140 bets on a Czech table tennis event flagged for match fixing concerns. That fine totaled CA$350,000 and covered bets placed in late 2024.
The $95,000 from the Iowa case was credited to the state’s general fund after the Commission approved the agreement on July 27, 2026.
