Congress Gives MLB and Players Union a Deadline Over Sportsbook VIP Marketing

Three members of Congress have given Major League Baseball and its players’ union until August 24, 2026 to answer for the endorsement policies that let a personalized Bryce Harper video reach a FanDuel VIP customer who had lost $1.5 million on the platform, and they want a ban on personalized sportsbook marketing written into baseball’s next labor deal.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Reps. Paul Tonko (D-NY) and Valerie Foushee (D-NC) sent the letter on August 10, 2026 to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB Players Association Interim Executive Director Bruce Meyer, demanding “an end to the MLB and MLBPA policies that enabled this type of predatory promotion.” The same three lawmakers sent a second letter the same day to FanDuel Chief Executive Christian Genetski, demanding the company shut down its VIP program and posing eight questions under the same August 24 deadline, USA Today reported.

The trigger was a 21-second video Harper recorded in November 2024 through Cameo, the platform where fans pay celebrities for personalized messages. As the Philadelphia Inquirer first reported on July 9, 2026, a FanDuel VIP host sent the recording to Terry Thompson, a Montgomery County, Pennsylvania man who had wagered $18.5 million with FanDuel starting in 2020 and lost roughly $1.5 million. In the video, Harper addressed Thompson by name, mentioned his young son, and thanked him for his support.

Harper said on July 13, 2026 that he had no idea what the recording was for. The Cameo request came from someone identifying herself as “Bryttanni,” asking for a “holiday video for Terry,” and included a short script he read in good faith, he wrote on his Instagram account. FanDuel then added its own logo and used the video in a VIP promotion without his knowledge or consent, he said.

The lawmakers’ letter, published in full by NBC Philadelphia, treats that explanation as beside the point. Current MLB rules allow players to enter endorsement deals with sportsbooks provided they do not encourage wagering on baseball, and the letter argues that even a compliant partnership can put personalized player content in front of vulnerable customers.

“Mr. Harper has stated he was unaware of the true purpose of the video and would not have participated had he known,” the lawmakers wrote. “This incident however, raises broader concerns that players are not prohibited from such endorsements and highlights a systemic failure rooted in the deep enmeshment between leagues, teams, and sports books.”

What the Lawmakers Are Asking

The letter closes with five questions MLB and the MLBPA must answer by August 24, 2026: each side’s position on players seeking sportsbook endorsements as the collective bargaining agreement is renegotiated; how they will guarantee fan safety takes precedence over gambling-partnership revenue; whether current policies are adequate to keep players out of predatory VIP programs; whether players will be educated on the risks their participation in sportsbook promotions poses to fans; and whether they will prohibit players outright from participating in personalized sportsbook marketing tied to VIP or tier programs.

The timing lands in the middle of labor negotiations. Baseball’s current collective bargaining agreement expires December 1, 2026, and the MLBPA has publicly said it intends to seek greater freedom for players to build relationships with gambling companies. The three lawmakers are pushing the other way: an “immediate end” to policies permitting partnerships with sportsbooks that operate VIP programs.

A Campaign Three Sessions Old

For Blumenthal and Tonko, the letter extends a line of pressure that predates the Harper video by years. Their SAFE Bet Act, which would require states offering sports betting to meet minimum federal standards on advertising, affordability checks, and AI-driven marketing, has been introduced across three sessions of Congress without clearing a House committee. Blumenthal has also reintroduced the GRIT Act with Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-OR), which would dedicate federal funds to studying, preventing, and treating gambling addiction.

In April 2026, Blumenthal wrote to the commissioners of MLB, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, MLS, and the NCAA pressing each league on its gambling and prediction-market partnerships, according to his office’s release. That letter set a May 1, 2026 deadline for answers on partnership terms, data sharing, and integrity safeguards. In March 2025, Blumenthal wrote to eight sports betting companies over their aggressive marketing practices, Gaming.net reported.

State-level scrutiny of VIP programs has been building in parallel. Massachusetts regulators opened an investigation into sportsbook VIP programs in October 2025, examining how hosts court high-volume bettors.

FanDuel, for its part, told NBC Philadelphia it is “committed to fostering a culture of responsible gaming,” that its employees are trained to recognize and flag signs of problem gambling, and that it continues to review and strengthen its consumer-protection policies. Thompson’s underlying claim against the company is already before a court: the nonprofit Public Health Advocacy Institute filed suit on his behalf in March 2026 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court against FanDuel and DraftKings.

MLB and the MLBPA now have thirteen days to produce their answers. Whether either side commits to writing a personalized-marketing ban into the next labor agreement will decide if the letter ends as oversight or as the opening position in baseball’s winter negotiations.