Score Media and Penn Gaming, the companies behind the Bet ESPN app, are facing a class action lawsuit for allegedly violating Illinois' biometrics privacy law.
The suit accuses the companies of improperly scanning users' faces.
The lawsuit targets Score Media and Gaming Inc., along with Penn Entertainment, Inc., Penn Sports Interactive LLC, and Penn Interactive Ventures, LLC. These companies are collectively referred to as "Penn Entertainment" in the lawsuit.
Faifer alleges that these companies unlawfully collected, used, stored, and disclosed his and other users' personal biometric information. The complaint argues that this practice is in violation of the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) and seeks to stop these alleged activities.
The lawsuit seeks potentially huge damages under BIPA for these supposed violations. The law permits plaintiffs to demand damages of $1,000-$5,000 per violation. The Illinois Supreme Court has interpreted the BIPA law to define individual violations as each time a user's biometrics are scanned over a period of the preceding five years, not just the first time.
The defendants own and operate the ESPN Bet app which was launched in November 2023. To access the app's services, users must create an account which includes submitting a scan of their government-issued ID, as well as a photograph of their face.
The complaint doesn't estimate how many Illinois residents may use the Bet ESPN app.
The lawsuit, however, seeks to expand the action to include any Illinois residents who used any Penn Gaming app, not just Bet ESPN.
Plaintiffs are represented by attorney Michael Kozlowski, of Esbrook P.C., of Chicago.