It's been only 11 days since FanDuel opened its sportsbook at the Meadowlands Racetrack, and it appears there are still some kinks to be worked out before the start of football season.
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It all started on Tuesday night, when the Dodgers-Phillies game went to extra innings and ended after the sportsbook had technically closed at 1 a.m. ET.
According to @GoldboxATL on Twitter, some bettors went home with winning tickets. The reason? GoldboxATL claims the FanDuel Sportsbook did not have the cash on hand to pay out the winners:
Many of the betters are going home tonight with tickets in hand, including me. @FanDuel Meadowlands didn’t have cash in the draws to payout. Amateur hour here. @GUnit_81@andrewssports@JimmyVaccaro@beatingthebook@paulyhoward@MitchMossRadio@VSiNVinny@VSiNLive
— Eric (@GoldboxATL) July 25, 2018
On Wednesday, FanDuel put out a slightly different story, responding with the following statement:
"The FanDuel Sportsbook's business hours of operation last night were to 1 AM, as clearly posted throughout the facility. Once 1 AM hits, our cages are closed. We cannot take wagers or pay out wagers after that time. To be clear, there was no issue with cash on hand. All customers are welcome to return today to collect any winnings, or to mail in any winning tickets for payment."
The Action Network's own BlackJack Fletcher ran into this same issue at the Borgata, another sportsbook in New Jersey that has recently opened in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down the federal prohibition on sports betting two months ago.
Interestingly, FanDuel's statement didn't seem to fly with bettors who were on location Monday night:
Some questions: The @FanDuel onsite leadership team told us all watching the two last games, they would process winning tickets after the game. They just simply didn’t have enough cash on hand. Some paid, others not.
— Eric (@GoldboxATL) July 25, 2018
At the very least, there was certainly some confusion between employees and bettors. Issues such as this one will continue to be long-term hurdles for legal sportsbook operators that are trying to compete with offshore options.
