DraftKings apologises for betting championship furore- 14th January 2019

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DraftKings has issued an apology after controversy dogged the finale of its first-ever Sports Betting National Championship on Sunday.

The leading competitor was not able to place bets on the final National Football League (NFL) playoff game of the weekend after his previous wagers had not been processed, causing him to miss out on a chance of winning the $1m top prize.

The Sports Betting National Championship saw 260 entrants, who either won their way into the tournament or put up the $10,000 entry fee, compete to see who could record the greatest winnings from a $5,000 pot.
New Jersey-based contestants could make bets via the DraftKings mobile app on any sporting event on Friday (January 11) and Saturday (January 12), but Sunday’s (January 13) action was limited to the two National Football League (NFL) playoff games.

While punters could place bets throughout the first of the NFL games, between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Chargers, all wagers had to be placed before the start of the final game, between the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints.

The first game finished late, which meant there was only seven minutes for many bets to be processed before the start of the second. The bettor Rufus Peabody, who had topped the leaderboard at the end of the first game, had placed all his money on the Patriots victory, and while successful he did not have access to his pot before the start of the Eagles-Saints game.

DraftKings said the competition had been a success but admitted the competition rules were flawed and would be revisited before future events.

“The first-ever Sports Betting National Championship was an incredibly thrilling event,” said James Chisholm, director of public affairs for DraftKings, in a statement.

“We recognise that in the rules the scheduled end of betting coincided very closely to the finish of the of Patriots-Chargers game," Chisholm explained. “While we must follow our contest rules, we sincerely apologise for the experience several customers had where their bets were not graded in time to allow wagering on the Saints-Eagles game.

"We will learn from this experience and improve upon the rules and experience for future events,” he added.

Eventual winner Randy Lee, of New Jersey, finished with winnings of $101,472, having accrued $81,892 of the total in the Patriots-Chargers game.