FanDuel group in sports pay-out dispute
News on 20 Sep 2018
News on 20 Sep 2018
FanDuel’s newly operational sportsbook at the Meadowlands Racetrack in New Jersey is already facing claims that it is withholding a total of $138,000 from three players, justifying its actions by pointing to T&Cs which cover technical and human error.
Anthony Prince, one of the aggrieved punters, alleges that he made an in-game wager on Sunday that should according to his betting ticket odds, have paid out $82,610 on a $110 wager. The bet was laid with 1 minute, 10 seconds remaining in the Denver Broncos-Oakland Raiders contest.
The match was, as predicted by Prince, won by the Broncos in a last-seconds field goal, but when Prince tried to claim his win he was told the odds pricing was in error and therefore would not be honoured.
According to Prince, the operator eventually offered him $500 and skybox seats for three New York Giants games. He refused, taking up the issue with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
“They said their system had a glitch in it and they’re not obligated to pay for glitches,” Prince told local reporters.
Two friends of Prince, Mike Guerriero and Chris Calcano supported his allegations in the media, claiming that they received $56,325 in their FanDuel account on Sunday after making the same plus-75,000 wager online. By Monday morning, FanDuel had revoked the pay-out, replacing it with a minuscule return on revised minus-600 odds.
FanDuel Sportsbook has reportedly been investigating the incidents, making the following statement:
“The wager in question involved an obvious pricing error inadvertently generated by our in-game pricing system. Specifically, near the end of the Sunday afternoon game between the Denver Broncos and the Oakland Raiders, the odds for the Broncos (who had the ball and were trailing by two points at the time) to win were +340 (bet $100 to win $340). The next play, the Broncos completed a 26-yard pass to position themselves to attempt a 36-yard field goal to take the lead in the final seconds of the fourth quarter, clearly positioning the Broncos as the favorite to win.
“At that moment in the game, our system updated the odds and erroneously posted a price of +75,000 on the Broncos to win the game (bet $100 to win $75,000) when the correct odds for the Broncos to win the game at that point in time were -600 (i.e., bet $600 to win $100).
“A small number of bets were made at the erroneous price over an 18-second period. We honored all such bets on the Broncos to win the game at the accurate market price in accordance with our house rules and industry practice, which specifically address such obvious pricing errors. We have reached out to all impacted customers and apologized for the error.”
According to its in-house T&Cs FanDuel is not required to pay out on Prince’s ticket, at least not at the +75000 odds; the rules, which players agree to accept, cover faulty bets caused by technical and human errors, and the company is only required to pay Prince at the “correct” odds, which were -600 at the time he placed the bet.
However, it appears that FanDuel went beyond that by offering Prince an additional $500 and tickets to three New York Giants games. He declined to accept that offer when it was originally made.
The issue generated plenty of social network and media attention and comment.
The New Jersey Division for Gaming Enforcement, as the regulator confirmed the issue was under investigation; according to the regulations currently in force FanDuel has five calendar days from the occurrence of the incident to file an “incident report” and resolve the issue.
