N.J. investigating $82K disputed payout
ATL A NTIC CIT Y, N . J. » New Jersey gambling regulators are investigating whether FanDuel’s sports book should pay out more than $82,000 to a man who was given exorbitant odds for the Broncos to win Sunday against the Oakland Raiders.
Anthony Prince of Newark made his bet and was handed a ticket at incredible 7501 odds with about a minute left in the game, as the Broncos trailed by two points on their final drive. Denver kicked a field goal with six seconds left to win 2019, capping a secondhalf comeback that started with the Broncosdown120.
FanDuel says its system should have calculated his odds at 16, meaning a bettor would have to wager $600 in order to win $100.
Prince bet $110 on the Broncos but was stopped when he went to collect from FanDuel’s betting window at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, N.J.
“They said, ‘Oh, we can’t honor this ticket,’ ” Prince told News12 New Jersey, which first reported the story. “I said: ‘Why? This is fair and square.’ They said the system had a glitch in it and they’re not obligated to pay for glitches.”
FanDuel said in a statement that its system malfunctioned and it is not obligated to pay out on an obvious error.
“A small number of bets were made at the erroneous price over an 18second 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,” FanDuel said in its statement.
How the matter is handled could have farreaching effects on the budding sports betting industry in New Jersey at a time when new sports books are opening in some other states and lawmakers throughout the country consider whether to also jump in for the potential tax revenue.
The idea that player money and winnings would be protected and regulated by the state has been a major selling point among sports betting supporters who contrasted legal gambling with shady offshore betting sites where players often have little recourse in disputes.
David Rebuck, director of the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement, said the agency is investigating whether there are grounds to compel FanDuel to pay Prince the stated payout of $82,000. He added the agency is looking “just as importantly (at) how it occurred given internal controls exist to prevent such an error. Those findings might also result in the need for further action.”