Should Sportsbooks Payout on Odds Glitches?

In early April, as the NBA was eeking to the end of its regular season in what has become an annual final week of farcical starting lineups and hijinks, bettors discovered a glitch in The Matrix that brought the world of sportsbook mistakes back into the spotlight.

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Betting Debate: Should Sportsbooks Pay Out For Their Odds Mistakes?

With the Memphis Grizzlies preparing to face off against the New Orleans Pelicans on April 5, bettors capitalized on a mistake made by traders at sportsbook PointsBet that saw Tyus Jones, the Grizzlies’ primary ball handler for that night due to the absence of first-choice point guard Ja Morant, listed at odds as high as +2800 to record a double-double; more than seven times the odds other sportsbooks were offering on the same market for the game.

Of course, Jones would go on to tally his ninth double-double of the year with 13 points and 12 assists in the Pelicans overtime win, exciting many of those who were quick enough to strike on the ballooned odds, including one bettor who shared his bet with Dimers via DM on Twitter, first as a ticket that was marked as won, and then a subsequent screenshot of the same ticket voided by PointsBet who decided not to honor the bets made on Jones once their error was discovered.

When the bettor pressed PointsBet for further information as to why the bet was first paid out and then declared void, he received a response from the ‘book, referencing their terms and conditions - which are agreed upon by every user when creating their account.

In PointsBet’s Ts and Cs, the sportsbook covers themselves in the event of mistakes in listed betting markets, giving them the right to void any bets in circumstances where “obvious errors have occurred”.

While terms and conditions give the sportsbook free rein to do pretty much anything they want with agreeing customers, it actually wouldn’t have been the first time that a betting company has paid out to bettors on a big glitch.

In August 2021, Dimers.com spoke with Landon Coleman from Evansville, Indiana, who discovered a glitch with FanDuel Sportsbook that allowed him to win more than $112,000 on three bets placed on a game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds.

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On that day, While compiling a Same Game Parlay, Coleman noticed something was up when he pieced together six relatively realistic legs that returned odds of +200000.

“I was so confused why,” he told us at the time.

“I started taking everything off when I saw that the pitcher’s odds (Tyler Mahle to record 6+ strikeouts and Bryse Wilson to record 3+) were juiced up to +2100 and +800,

“I thought the game was getting canceled or they were changing the starting pitchers,”

Despite the confusion, Coleman went to shoot his shot, placing a total of three wagers: a $100 Same Game Parlay on Mahle and Wilson to get their strikeouts, along with an alternate total runs of Under 12.5 runs at odds of +91256 -- a $25 Same Game Parlay on just the pitchers alone to get their strikeouts at +81461, and finally, a $100 bet on Mahle to record 4+ Ks at odds of +1300.

“I was planning of doing more, but they took the odds down right after I was able to make my last bet,”

For FanDuel Sportsbook, it was too late; the damage was done. In the game which the Reds won 3-2, the bets were effectively over by the end of the third inning when both pitchers hit their targets. FanDuel now owed Coleman more than $100,000, or did they?

Today was a good day... day. pic.twitter.com/qsYbMUbSGe

— Landon Coleman (@Titsyeah) August 9, 2021

When asked for comment in 2021, the sportsbook confirmed that an error took place.

“For a short time on Sunday we had an issue with our pricing model, and it was the same time the customer placed the wager,” then-FanDuel spokesman Kevin Hennessy said.

Despite the obvious mistake, the FanDuel honored the bet to Coleman.

Like FanDuel and PointsBet, DraftKings Sportsbook are also no strangers to the world of mistaken odds.

The Boston-based sportsbook were the victims of perhaps the most infamous odds pricing error when, in January 2022, the company was slow to react upon news that Warriors player Draymond Green, who was injured, would only appear on the court in Golden State’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, to honor the return of long-time teammate Klay Thompson, who was returning from a lengthy layoff due to an injury of his own. 

Bettors pounced on the news as it circulated around social media, smashing the Under in Green’s alternate stat line markets for points, rebounds and assists before DraftKings could make the adjustment, with some users piling thousands of dollars into bets, resulting in accumulative returns that swelled well over $1 million, according to a report from ESPN.

After more than 24 hours of review, DraftKings elected to honor the bets made and paid out all users, rather than take the alternative, which would have been nothing short of a public relations disaster.

Pardon the pun, but make no mistake: capitalizing on sportsbook glitches are big business for betting syndicates.

Among the plethora of VIP Discord services, masses of users are monitoring various sportsbook lines daily, waiting for the next moment that a sportsbook will slip up. When a mistake is discovered, news is filtered through specific glitch channels, sending push notifications to thousands of users simultaneously, allowing everyone to get in on the action.

And while that may sound opportunistic, wrong, and against the spirit of betting, people-power actually works in favor of those bettors who work in unison. As referenced with the Green case, when thousands of customers are in the same boat, putting them offside could ultimately work against the sportsbook, especially when it’s them that caused that error.

Ultimately, sportsbooks are covered when this does happen, but that doesn’t mean that being on the winning end of a sportsbook glitch will mean you will ultimately lose. It all depends on the circumstance.

Should sportsbooks be able to reserve the right to void bets where mistakes in the odds markets have occurred, or should they be punished for mistakes? Let us know on Twitter.

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