The novice world of state-sanctioned sports gambling has made national news again; and for this case, the betting entity in charge might not have the law on its side.
On Sunday, a man who identified himself as Anthony Prince (according to News 12 New Jersey) placed an in-game NFL wager at the New Jersey-based Meadowlands Racetrack, letting $110 ride on a Denver Broncos comeback win over the Oakland Raiders.
The problem here? Prince thought he was getting 750-to-1 odds on Denver rallying for a victory–a figure that was erroneously posted at the Meadowlands sports-gambling facility, according to FanDuel, which originally became famous for its vast market share with daily fantasy wagering.
And when Denver pulled off the 20-19 home victory, Prince stood to claim more than $82,000 from a single betting triumph.
FanDuel responded quickly to the matter, saying it would not honor Prince's bet, even though he apparently has an official ticket featuring the 750-to-1 odds.
"The wager in question involved an obvious pricing error inadvertently generated by our in-game pricing system," a FanDuel spokesperson said in a statement.
At the time of Prince's wager, the Broncos trailed by only two points in the fourth quarter.
In similar scenarios, it's highly unlikely a reputable gambling operation would ever attach 750-to-1 odds to a possible comeback win ... even if the Broncos had hypothetically needed 99 yards for the winning score, and there was only enough time for one final play.
In fact, in a normal gambling environment, bettors likely wouldn't experience similarly astronomical odds with a single bet, even if an NFL team owned a 40-0 lead in the second half.
Therein lies the crux of the matter: In the eyes of FanDuel's it's a common sense issue. However, from Prince's perspective, a house bet should be deemed official, once money changes hands.
UPDATE: According to News 12 New Jersey, two more bettors for the Broncos-Raiders game also claim that FanDuel won't honor their end-of-game wagers.
In the aftermath, FanDuel reportedly offered to pay Prince approximately $500, while throwing in tickets to three New York Giants games at MetLife Stadium.
Prince has apparently declined the offer, and will subsequently hire an attorney to handle the situation from this point forward.
"They said their system had a glitch in it and they're not obligated to pay for glitches," Prince told 12 News.
According to various media sources, FanDuel had intended to assign "-600" odds for a Broncos comeback, at the point of the 19-17 score in the fourth quarter.
Within that realm, Prince stood to only make an extra $18.35 for his $110 bet.
"A small number of bets were made at the erroneous price over an 18-second period," FanDuel said. "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."
New Jersey is one five American states to offer full-scale legalized sports gambling to participating customers, along with Nevada, Mississippi, West Virginia and Delaware.
