After consulting with New Jersey gambling regulators, the online sports betting company, FanDuel, said it would pay out a number of disputed sports bets placed during a game last Sunday.
During the final moments of a Denver Broncos – Oakland Raiders game, FanDuel’s automated system generated particularly long odds. Some players took advantage of the wildly inflated 750-1 odds promised to them, one of them being Anthony Prince.
Prince demanded that FanDuel pay out the $82,000 due to him after he made the $110 sports bet. Initially the sports betting company refused, saying that the odds were an obvious error, and that they weren’t obliged to do so.
However, FanDuel soon backtracked on its decision and put out a statement on Thursday, explaining its change of heart.
“Above all else, sports betting is supposed to be fun,” read the statement. “As a result of a pricing error this weekend, it wasn’t for some of our customers.”
Prince, as well as a number of other gamblers who made bets on these erroneous odds, will be paid out, said the group.
“These kinds of issues are rare, but they do happen,” noted FanDuel in its statement. “So, this one’s on the house. We are paying out these erroneous tickets and wish the lucky customers well.”
The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement said that it was encouraged by the action taken by FanDuel to solved the problem presented by a glitch in FanDuel’s system. The authority said that it would continue to work with the company and the other licensed sports wagering operators in New Jersey, to make sure that industry-wide best practices were always implemented.
New Jersey’s budding sports betting industry is still going through natural birthing pains, and it is to be expected that disputes will arise. New Jersey was at the forefront of challenging the federal ban on sports betting. The state eventually won its Supreme Court case which opened the doors to legal sports betting in the United States.
FanDuel has taken its decision to appease its players one step further. It has promised to award $1,000 to 82 random players this weekend, so that it will pay out another $82K in total, over and beyond the payout to Prince.
