Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

FanDuel sportsbook’s $82,000 glitch has Jersey man questioning integrity, regulators investigating

Whoops.

Brandon McManus (right) celebrates the  game-winning field goal with punter Marquette King (1) that has ignited a controversy with FanDuel sports.
Brandon McManus (right) celebrates the game-winning field goal with punter Marquette King (1) that has ignited a controversy with FanDuel sports.Read moreJack Dempsey / AP

A mistake Sunday has created quite a headache at the Meadowlands and underscored that maybe the street-corner bookie isn't obsolete just yet.

Anthony Prince, of Newark, jumped on some outrageous odds toward the end of Sunday's Raiders-Broncos game. He was at Meadowlands race track and placed an in-game wager on the Broncos to win. There was just 1:10 left in the fourth quarter, Denver was down by two and driving for the winning field goal.

That's when Prince was tipped off by another bettor that FanDuel, which runs the sportsbook at the Meadowlands, was offering 750-1 odds on the Broncos to win. Prince told News12 New Jersey that he put down $110 that Denver would finish off the rally.

The Broncos did get the victory, but Prince is not getting his money. And now, New Jersey's Division of Gaming Enforcement is investigating if he should.

Though Denver won with a 36-yard field goal (by North Penn and Temple alum Brandon McManus), FanDuel said in a statement that "an obvious pricing error inadvertently generated by our in-game pricing system" gave out the 750-1 odds when the Broncos should have been -$600 (bet $600 to win $100).

Raiders-Broncos recap, play-by-play

"[The] core issue for us is how it happened, given the checks and balances," David Rebuck, the DOGE's director, said in an email to the Inquirer and Daily News. "And are additional safeguards required to reduce the risks of future operator error? … 750 to 1 odds is clearly an error."

Prince said he was offered $500 by FanDuel and skybox seats for three Giants games (good heaven, have they not seen the Giants play this season?), but declined and instead will get a lawyer.

At least two other bettors made similar bets on FanDuel's app and also expect substantial payouts.

"A small number of bets were made at the erroneous price over an 18-second period," FanDuel's statement 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."

Rebuck said FanDuel self-reported the problem and has been cooperating.

Prince stood to win $82,500. Instead, he'll probably get $18.33.

"The government is taxing it now, so I thought it would be a better situation, you know?" Prince told News12. "So you'd rather go to the corner bookies now. You're not getting paid here."