FanDuel Sportsbook agrees to pay $82,610 following "glitch" in system
In week 2 of the NFL season, the Denver Broncos trailed 12-0 against the Oakland Raiders at halftime. The Broncos were able to rally back and set up a game-winning 36-yard field goal. Denver kicker Brandon McManus made the field goal with just six seconds remaining to win the game.
While a last-second field goal to win the game is pretty big, it wasn’t the top story around this NFL game. Anthony Prince and the wager he placed on this matchup have already brought controversy to the recently opened New Jersey sportsbook. The sportsbook was attempting to have live odds update throughout the game, which led to a glitch in the system. The glitch ended up updating the odds to give the Broncos 750-to-1 odds to win the game after they set up the 36-yard field goal attempt.
We are aware of the issues and are actively working on a fix. We apologize for any inconvenience.
— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) September 18, 2018
Prince wasted no time when he saw these odds, and he placed $110 on the Broncos to win. The odds should have had the Broncos at -600 rather than +75,000. Prince would have won $18.35 under the correct odds, but instead, he won $82,610 from the odds given by the glitch.
Since the bet was won on incorrect odds, when Prince went to collect his winnings, FanDuel would not give him the $82,610. The sportsbook then offered him $500 and skybox tickets to three of the New York Giants home games this season. Prince quickly retrieved help from an attorney and the New Jersey Division of Gaming for his case.
Pay The People!!! They put their hard earned money on me to win that game https://t.co/I7bJMj5ypd
— Brandon McManus (@thekidmcmanus) September 20, 2018
FanDuel has released a statement on the matter.
“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.”
Prince is still working on getting an attorney involved along with filing a complaint with the New Jersey Division of Gaming, but others are voicing their opinions to see how the rest of this unfortunate situation will play out.
Respect to @notthefakeSVP. In Gaming, it can’t be a subjective decision. The Vegas rule “tickets go as written” is a staple. We’ve paid out mistakes and guests have received the “wrong” tickets. Once they leave the window (or confirmed on mobile), it’s action. Long conversation https://t.co/uSc4Ipvon1
— Jay Kornegay (@JayKornegay) September 19, 2018
FanDuel has agreed to pay Prince the $82,610 he won from the mistake in the odds and will aim to put this situation behind them. The sportsbook later came out with the following statement.
“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. For eighteen seconds, bettors were offered odds paying out 750-1 on the Denver Broncos converting a 36 yard field goal. A 36 yard field goal has approximately an 85% chance of success, so the astronomical odds offered on something highly likely to occur was very obviously a pricing error. These kinds of issues are rare, but they do happen. We have clear house rules about how such obvious pricing errors are treated, which is to pay winners at the correct price.
“For those familiar with the industry these rules are understood, but we realize a lot of our customers are new to sports betting and were not familiar. We want FanDuel to be a sportsbook for all bettors, and we want sports betting to be fun. So, this one’s on the house. We are paying out these erroneous tickets and wish the lucky customers well. Going forward, we are working with the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement to improve our processes and procedures. We will also work with others in the industry on educating bettors on these and similar instances and how they work.
“We are committed to ensuring sports betting is reliable and fun for everyone, and we don’t want an eighteen second error to define anyone’s experience. So let’s have fun. This weekend, we’re giving away $82,000 to our customers, by adding $1,000 to the account of 82 lucky users. Any person who has a FanDuel Sportsbook online account as of 10AM ET this Sunday will be eligible for random selection. Wagering is permitted only while present in New Jersey. Full terms and conditions are available at www.sportsbook.fanduel.com. Good luck!”