FanDuel to make good on flawed odds offers
News on 21 Sep 2018
News on 21 Sep 2018
FanDuel announced Thursday that it is to pay out the full amounts on 12 New Jersey football betting tickets which contained flawed and mistakenly inflated good odds on the Broncos-Oakland Raiders game.
The twelve tickets represented a small but savvy segment of online and land bettors who initially had their winnings frozen pending investigation of an apparent operational glitch and raised hell on social and industry media over the past week.
On one ticket alone – a $110 bet made at the Meadowlands facility seconds before the game ended in victory for the Broncos – the player scored $82,610 on odds of -75,000 rather than the $18.33 profit he would have made at the correct odds of minus-600 (see previous report).
Following an investigation and a discussion with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, FanDuel released the winnings to the affected players Thursday along with a press statement which advised:
“Above all else, sports betting is supposed to be fun. As a result of a pricing error this weekend, it wasn’t for some of our customers.”
The statement went on to explain how such “astronomically high odds could only have been a thankfully rare pricing error,” but acknowledged that many of its new customers may not be familiar with standard industry T&C rules explaining that fraud or technical malfunctions can render transactions null and avoid.
With some definite PR flavouring from its parent Paddy Power Betfair group, FanDuel went on to say that it did not want an 18-second error to define the FanDuel betting experience, advising that “this one is on the house” and wishing the 12 punters well.
The Paddy Power influence was also there in a special offer turning the debacle into an opportunity for the house by offering $1,000 to 82 randomly selected accounts of FanDuel punters.
More importantly and seriously, the company assured readers that it is working closely with the Division of Gaming Enforcement to “improve our processes and procedures” and better familiarise sports bettors on standard rules and how they are usually applied.
