DraftKings NFT (Reignmakers / Marketplace) securities settlement (USD 10M): What Was Paid, Who Was Covered, Status

DraftKings paid USD 10 million to settle a securities class action over its Reignmakers NFTs, and on July 27, 2026 the court authorized the first distribution to claimants. The case is Dufoe v. DraftKings Inc., docket 1:23-cv-10524-DJC in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, before Judge Denise J. Casper.

The claim window closed on July 21, 2025, so nothing is open today. As of July 27, 2026 our record lists the status as paid: the court authorized distribution and the administrator, A.B. Data, reports that checks were mailed, though no mailing date is in the record.

What this case is about

Dufoe v. DraftKings Inc., 1:23-cv-10524-DJC (D. Mass.), asks whether DraftKings sold unregistered securities when it sold Reignmakers NFTs. A complaint states one side's allegations, and only the court's orders decide anything, so this page keeps the two apart.

What the complaint alleged about Reignmakers NFTs

The complaint alleged that Reignmakers NFTs were unregistered securities and that the DK Marketplace, where owners traded them, was an unregistered exchange. That is one side's account, not a finding. The claims rest on Sections 5 and 12(a)(1) of the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act and state securities laws.

Press reports describe the lead plaintiff as an Illinois buyer who lost about USD 14,000 on the tokens, and report a filing date of March 9, 2023 that is not confirmed in the court record.

The case belongs to a small group of securities lawsuits against gambling companies, and it is the only one in the sportsbook field that has paid.

What the court decided on the motion to dismiss

On July 2, 2024, Judge Casper denied the motion to dismiss, finding the NFTs plausibly investment contracts under the Howey test. This is a pleading-stage ruling. It says the claim was strong enough to proceed, and it is not a finding that the NFTs are securities.

DraftKings shut the marketplace within weeks, and the July 2024 shutdown offer later reduced recognized losses under the allocation formula. For the court's home state, start from Gambling Lawsuits in Massachusetts.

Who is covered

You were covered if you purchased, acquired, sold, held, used or otherwise transacted in NFTs in a DraftKings account between August 11, 2021 and February 28, 2025. NFTs bought or sold on the Marketplace were included.

The class definition and period

About 175,000 people were in the class, according to the administrator's site. The class was defined by activity in a DraftKings account.

Who was not covered

Activity after February 28, 2025 is outside the settlement. So is anyone who excluded themselves by July 9, 2025, because those people kept their own claims instead of sharing in the fund.

Opting out meant giving up any share of the USD 10 million. The guide on how to join, opt out or sue alone in a gambling class settlement explains the trade-off for a case like this one.

Is there a payout?

Yes, a payout exists: the USD 10 million fund is shared among authorized claimants in proportion to each one's recognized net loss on DraftKings NFTs, the court authorized the initial distribution on July 27, 2026, the administrator reports checks mailed, and no per-claimant amount has been published. The USD 10 million is a gross fund, not the amount claimants split.

The payout formula: net fund and recognized loss

The payout estimate below follows the allocation formula on the administrator's site and the Final Approval Order.

Net Settlement Fund = USD 10,000,000 + interest - taxes - notice and administration costs (up to USD 180,000 authorized by the Final Approval Order) - fee and expense award (class counsel requested 33 1/3 percent, about USD 3.33 million, plus expenses) - service award
Claimant payment = Net Settlement Fund x (own recognized loss / all authorized claimants' recognized losses)
Recognized loss = primary-market (drop) and secondary-market purchases, minus secondary-market sale proceeds, minus any payment under the July 2024 marketplace shutdown offer
Claims with no recognized loss, or under USD 5, receive nothing

The fee, expense and service awards actually granted are not readable in the record, so the net fund cannot be stated. The Order and Final Judgment of July 30, 2025 is a scanned image without a text layer.

For how pro rata shares work across gambling settlements, see the guide to class action payout per person.

What the net fund can be: a bounded estimate

If every request were granted in full, the net fund would be about USD 6.4 million before interest, taxes and litigation expenses. That figure is derived, assumes all requests were granted, and is not a published number. Class counsel also reported a lodestar of USD 3,403,362 through June 20, 2025.

Why the fee share matters is covered in the guide to attorney fees in gambling class actions. The table shows the arithmetic.

The last row is an illustration, not a published figure, because the total recognized loss has not been published. Interest, taxes and expenses are not estimated.

Why checks differ and why some claimants received nothing

Payments depend on the amount paid and the market type, are reduced by secondary sales and any shutdown-offer payment, and claims under USD 5 receive nothing. Two claimants with the same spending can therefore receive different amounts.

The number of valid claims, the total recognized loss and the average payment are not published. Any per-person figure found online is not in the court record.

Deadlines and how claims worked (the window is closed)

The claim window closed on July 21, 2025, and no claim was accepted after January 26, 2026, so no claim is open. Filing was free, and this site never hosts a claim form.

Claim, exclusion and objection deadlines in 2025

Exclusion and objection closed July 9, 2025, claims closed July 21, 2025 after a 120-day claims period, and the fairness hearing was July 30, 2025 at 3:00 pm. The guide to claim, exclusion and objection deadlines explained shows how these dates fit together.

• July 9, 2025: exclusion and objection deadline
• July 21, 2025: claim deadline
• July 30, 2025: fairness hearing at 3:00 pm

Late claims and the 2026 distribution order

Late-claim motions delayed distribution until Judge Casper's order of July 27, 2026 (ECF 139). That order accepted timely claims and late claims received by July 30, 2025, and it accepted no claims after January 26, 2026.

Class counsel had filed the distribution motion on January 26, 2026 (ECF 130), and a status report followed on April 17, 2026 (ECF 133). Administration costs beyond USD 180,000 are payable from the remainder, and claim-status letters went out on October 7, 2025.

Timeline

The case ran from a 2021 class-period start to a distribution order in 2026. Dates are shown in ISO form.

The distribution order came about a year after the claim deadline. The guide on how long gambling lawsuits and settlements take compares this schedule with other cases.

What the court has decided so far

Two orders matter: Doc. 106, the Order and Final Judgment of July 30, 2025, and Doc. 139, the distribution order of July 27, 2026. The first granted final approval of the settlement. The second authorized the initial distribution of the Net Settlement Fund.

The court's earlier ruling is the July 2, 2024 denial of the motion to dismiss. It found the NFTs plausibly investment contracts under Howey, which was enough to keep the case alive.

Nothing in the record decides, on the merits, whether the NFTs are securities, because the case settled. As of July 27, 2026 the status is paid in our record, with the check mailing date not confirmed.

Documents and sources

Every date and figure comes from the administrator's published court filings and the court's orders, listed here with the copy we read. Doc. 106 is a scan without a text layer, and no docket link is given because PACER is paid.

• Administrator's site, A.B. Data, P.O. Box 173039, Milwaukee, WI 53217, (877) 883-9186 (primary)
• Order and Final Judgment, Doc. 106, July 30, 2025 (primary, scan)
• Status Report, Doc. 133, April 17, 2026 (primary)
• Order Approving Settlement Distribution to Authorized Claimants, Doc. 139, July 27, 2026 (primary)
• Lead counsel's fee memorandum (primary)
• Top Class Actions, Bloomberg Law and ClassAction.org (press, supporting only)

Related cases

Two cases sit next to this settlement.

Other DraftKings cases

DraftKings is a defendant in other cases in our record. The page on DraftKings lawsuits lists them, and one is directly tied to this settlement:

• NFLPA v. DraftKings (Reignmakers NFT license): the players' union sued over the Reignmakers license; a settlement is reported but not confirmed from the docket.

Other gambling settlements with claims open

Some gambling settlement claims are still open in November 2026, and the tracker lists every deadline.

• Pulsz six-state settlement: claims open to November 30, 2026.
• High 5 Games Washington verdict and settlement: claims open to January 4, 2027 as of August 14, 2026.

The full list sits in the tracker of open gambling class action settlements by deadline.

Questions people ask

Is the DraftKings NFT settlement real and over?

Yes; final approval was granted on July 30, 2025 and distribution was authorized on July 27, 2026. Totals by year are in the tracker of gambling settlements by year and amount.

How much did each person get?

No per-claimant amount has been published; each authorized claimant receives a pro rata share of the net fund. The gambling settlement payout per person calculator shows how fund size and fee share move an estimate.

When were checks sent?

The administrator's site says checks were mailed; no mailing date is stated in the record. The court authorized distribution on July 27, 2026.

Can I still file a claim?

No; the window closed July 21, 2025 and the court accepted nothing after January 26, 2026. For other settlements, read how to file a claim in a gambling settlement.

Is the administrator A.B. Data legitimate?

Yes; the administrator's site names A.B. Data, and the court's order references the administrator's costs. A.B. Data's address is P.O. Box 173039, Milwaukee, and you can compare any notice against it using how to spot fake settlement and claim sites.

Is there a DraftKings class action I can still join?

Other DraftKings suits exist and none besides this one has paid a class. See the DraftKings lawsuits page for each case.