DraftKings New York Voided a $300,000 Parlay Because of Internal Error

DraftKings Sportsbook voided $318,000 in winnings for a New York-based sports bettor after one of its vendors advertised incorrect odds for a same-game parlay.

Sportcast, the company in charge of same-game parlays, presented +3500 odds for a January 30, 2023 matchup between the Phoenix Suns and Toronto Raptors that should’ve been only +100. The same company also posted incorrect totals for an Oct. 24 NBA game that led to DraftKings requesting voids for six figures worth of customer winnings.

DraftKings intended to replace Sportcast in February and move to an in-house alternative, though it is still yet to unveil a replacement.

The voided parlay featured three legs involving then-Suns forward Mikal Bridges (now of the Brooklyn Nets) and his first-quarter performance against the Raptors.

The legs were as follows:

•  Mikal Bridges 2+ points
• Mikal Bridges 1+ rebound
• Mikal Bridges 1+ assist

Rob, the bettor who created the parlay, played it three times with a total stake of $9,087.32 and the chance to win $318,056.20. The corrected odds of +100 would have won him the same amount as his stake. 

The market was left unchanged until tip-off.

It only took 1:28 for Bridges to cash the parlay. He’d go on to finish the first quarter with 16 points, two assists, and one rebound.

DraftKings initially graded each of the three parlay submissions as wins. However, when Rob went to withdraw the maximum allowance of $100,000 from his account, the “win” changed to “pending” and was frozen. A few days later, Rob was returned the amount he wagered and was not awarded any additional winnings. 

New York law mandates sportsbooks receive permission from the New York State Gaming Commission (NYGC) before they are allowed to void bets. 

Rob’s legal team was allowed access to an email conversation between DraftKings and the NYGC after submitting a request under the “Freedom of Information Law.” In one of the emails, DraftKings said a “manual trader error by Sportcast” was to blame for the mishap.

“Disappointment doesn’t begin to describe the emotional rollercoaster I’ve experienced with DraftKings and the agencies that supervise sports betting,” Rob said to Sports Betting Dime. “They’ve all demonstrated a serious lapse of sportsmanship in honoring the public trust.” 

DraftKings operates on the basis that any voided bets will result in customers receiving their initial stake with no additional gain or loss. It also says on its website that it may void a bet that involves an error at any step.

The company’s email to the NYGC continued:

“Due to a manual trader error by Sportcast, odds on Bridges 1st quarter markets were incorrect. Per Sportcast, ‘The game time Q1% of Mikal Bridges was incorrectly set to 2.5% instead of 22.5%, which affected all the 1st quarter markets. That includes 1st point scorer, 1st quarter player points, 1st quarter assists and 1st quarter rebounds.”

The NYGC gave DraftKings permission to void the bet. It also said in an email to Rob that his betting history suggested he was purposefully attempting to take advantage of an error he noticed.

Rob’s DraftKings account history showed that he never placed a bet above $475 and averaged $123.80 per bet before placing the three parlays. 

DraftKings said that it put a mitigation in place to help stop similar problems in the future. It also reiterated that it is building an in-house alternative for same-game parlays that will replace Sportcast.

Newly-launched ESPN Bet is also in hot water for voiding a parlay. X (formerly Twitter) user @CalculatorGrant placed a $40 bet on a five-leg parlay involving legs from NFL Week 13. Four of the legs hit while one pushed, yet the entire parlay was graded as a void.

Most other sportsbooks, especially the top operators, pay the parlay with adjusted odds (minus the leg that pushed). However, ESPN Bet’s company rules say that any parlay with a voided leg will result in an overall void.