A common collectibles practice known as “breaking” is facing legal scrutiny amid claims it amounts to unlawful gambling or an unregulated lottery, according to ESPN. Two separate legal actions target live-shopping platforms that host breaks: an arbitration demand filed this spring by attorney Paul Lesko on behalf of nearly 70 customers, and a separate lawsuit filed in July 2025 against Whatnot and Fanatics Live, ESPN reported.
Breaking involves a person — the breaker — opening a sealed product, most often a box of sports cards, on a livestream and allocating the pulls to buyers who purchased “slots,” according to ESPN. Slots can be structured by team, player or randomized; the sealed product is not opened until all slots are sold. Platforms used for breaks include Whatnot, Fanatics Live, eBay Live, YouTube, Twitch and TikTok, ESPN said.
The practice has long existed in physical card shops and at conventions but expanded sharply during the pandemic as collector interest surged, ESPN reported. As the retail price of some card boxes has climbed into the thousands, breakers have raised slot prices. Slot buyers are not guaranteed an item of equal or higher value and occasionally receive no card matching their chosen slot, though some participants obtain high‑value “hits,” according to ESPN.
ESPN cited a high-profile example from 2019 in which a buyer paid $50 for a randomized slot in a 2018-19 Panini Prizm Basketball box and received the Dallas Mavericks slot; the box contained a Luka Dončić rookie-year 1-of-1 Nebula card that has not been publicly sold. ESPN noted a comparable Dončić parallel from the same set graded by PSA sold for $780,000 two years later. The report also described “chase” cards — low-numbered inserts, autographs and other short-printed items — as the most valuable pulls and explained that higher-end products typically contain fewer, rarer cards.
Whatnot declined to comment on the arbitration demand but, in a March statement after the filing, said it “absolutely reject[s] the characterization in this complaint” and that “Gambling isn’t allowed on Whatnot, and we strictly enforce this policy,” adding that card breaks are a long-standing format in the hobby, according to ESPN. A Fanatics spokesperson also declined to comment. Lesko told ESPN that “the process should begin by mid-July.”
