Is Underdog legit? Short answer: yes, it’s a real company that pays out. Longer answer: yes, and it also carries a Better Business Bureau “F” and a rough Trustpilot score worth reading before a deposit goes in, not after a withdrawal stalls.
The Case for Legit: A Real Brooklyn LLC With a Regulatory Record
Underdog Sports, LLC is a Colorado-formed company doing business out of Brooklyn, New York, founded in 2020 by Jeremy Levine, Brandon Stakenborg, and Trevor John. It has run pick-em daily fantasy sports since launch and paid winning entries the whole time. The clearest proof it operates inside a real regulatory system, not outside one, is New York: the State Gaming Commission found that Underdog’s 2020–2022 contests went beyond its old temporary permit, and in March 2025 Underdog paid a $17.5 million settlement and exited the state rather than keep fighting the finding. A shell operation does not write that check.
The newest proof point: Predict. In July 2026 Underdog’s parent launched a prediction-market exchange built on its own CFTC Designated Contract Market and Derivatives Clearing Organization registrations — the same federal licensing lane as Kalshi. Winning that license is not something a company skips the paperwork on.
Is Underdog a Scam?
No. The same facts that answer “is Underdog legit” also answer this one: a scam app doesn’t register a real LLC with a public Brooklyn address, doesn’t pay a state gaming regulator $17.5 million instead of just vanishing, and doesn’t apply for and win a federal exchange license for a brand-new product line. What Underdog does have — and this is the part worth taking seriously — is a documented pattern of frozen accounts and slow payouts that shows up over and over in its complaint file. That is a service problem, not evidence the platform is fake.
The BBB File and the Trustpilot Score
The Better Business Bureau lists Underdog Fantasy with an “F” grade and roughly ten unresolved complaints. The repeat themes: verification checks that lock an account right after a win, support that several reviewers describe as bot-only, and payouts that route through a third-party processor, Interchecks, that can take up to ten days to land. Trustpilot tells a similar story at a “Bad”-banded 1.4 out of 5 — slow withdrawals and accounts suspended after a big win are the two complaints that show up again and again. Underdog is not BBB-accredited, and neither score is a fraud finding; both are a real signal that withdrawal friction is the actual risk here, more than the product being fake.
BBB: F rating, ~10 unresolved complaints.
Trustpilot: 1.4 / 5, banded “Bad.”
Apple App Store / Google Play: 4.8 / 4.6 — the much larger everyday-user pool that cashed out fine.
Two Open Lawsuits Worth Knowing About
Separate from the settled New York fine, Underdog is facing two proposed class actions that have not been resolved: one filed in New York in February 2025, another in California in October 2025, both arguing that Pick’em functions as unlicensed sports betting rather than fantasy sports. Neither is a finding against the company yet — they are open allegations, and California in particular has an attorney general opinion in the background arguing some DFS formats there cross into gambling. A reader deciding whether Underdog is “legit” today should know that question is still being argued in two courtrooms.
- Screenshot your lineup before it locks. Verification and stat disputes are easier to resolve with proof in hand than after the fact.
- Expect Interchecks, not instant PayPal. Budget up to ten days for a payout rather than assuming same-day cash-out.
- Withdraw steadily, not in one large sum. The complaint pattern skews toward big, infrequent cash-outs getting flagged more than small, regular ones.
Legit answers whether Underdog is a real company that pays people — it is. It does not answer whether a specific withdrawal will clear without a verification hold, and the public complaint record says that sometimes it does not. This is not a way to make money; play only what you can afford to lose, and confirm your state’s age and eligibility rules before funding an account.