FanDuel has found itself in some hot water after listing the wrong odds for an MLS game.
Several gamblers around the country placed huge bets on those odds, and now FanDuel is refusing to pay up.
This type of problem can sway the amount of trust that gamblers have in the legal betting industry.
Now the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement is investigating the situation. It could lead to action from the Indiana Gaming Commission as well.
Details on mistake that led to FanDuel investigation
Back in July, FanDuel mistakenly listed FC Cincinnati at +5 with a -134 payout for the team’s game against Atlanta United. The payout is the issue here, since it typically would have been well over the -1,000 mark, had the bet been listed correctly.
Originally, FanDuel claimed the odds were only up for about 15 minutes.
However sources told Legal Sports Report that they were actually up for about a day.
Around a dozen bets came in on the incorrect odds while they were still up.
Most of those bets came from New Jersey, but one of them was placed at FanDuel’s retail sportsbook at Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, Indiana. That bet would have paid out around $60,000.
That Blue Chip gambler had his bet canceled before he had a chance to cash out.
As for the New Jersey gamblers, FanDuel is holding the original stakes and refusing to pay out the winnings.
That’s become a frustrating situation for those bettors, who can’t get their money back, and also aren’t getting the money from their winning bets.
FanDuel has done this before
This isn’t the first time that FanDuel has put up the wrong odds by mistake.
Back in September 2018, at the very beginning of sports betting outside of Nevada, FanDuel mucked up an NFL line.
The sportsbook accidentally listed the Denver Broncos at +75,000 rather than -600.
That mistake was only up for 18 seconds, but it was a costly one for the company.
At first, FanDuel tried to fix the problem by paying out the gamblers at -600 odds. That strategy didn’t end up working.
After taking some heat from New Jersey regulators, FanDuel coughed up the cash for every gambler at the posted odds. That included one man who placed a $110 wager to win more than $82,000.
What are the rules for mistakes like this?
Since every state has its own set of gambling laws, the way mistakes like this are handled can differ.
For example, in Indiana, sportsbooks are allowed to cancel any bet where the listed odds are an obvious error. That’s why the Blue Chip Casino gambler had his bet with $60,000 in winnings canceled.
FanDuel might not get off so easily in New Jersey.
Since the company previously paid out gamblers during that Broncos debacle, it may have set a precedent for how to handle mistakes like this. New Jersey regulators might see those previous payouts as the standard for how to handle these situations.
If that’s the case, FanDuel will have a tough time trying to avoid paying the gamblers.
However, there is another situation that could act as precedent instead.
A few weeks ago in Nevada, BetMGM accidentally let gamblers bet on live games using pre-game odds. That added up to over $200,000 worth of potential winnings.
In that case, Nevada regulators let BetMGM void the bets.
Since that situation took place in Nevada, its result may not hold as much weight in how FanDuel’s current problem in New Jersey will turn out.
It may take some time for the investigation in New Jersey to play out, but it’s looking like FanDuel will have a hard time getting the result that it wants.
