ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — It doesn't happen all that often, but when it does, it can seem like a dream come true for sports gamblers. This means that you can place your bets after the match is over.
And it happened again in Atlantic City, where a sportsbook was fined for placing $25,000 worth of bets after college basketball, hockey and boxing games.
In an action announced last week, the New Jersey Gambling Enforcement Agency fined William Hill Sportsbook $20,000 for fraudulent bets made in 2022 and 2023.
The company voided most bets after discovering the error. However, others had already been paid to the customer.
William Hill operates retail sportsbooks at Caesars, Harrah's and Tropicana casinos in Atlantic City. The casino's parent company, Caesars Entertainment, did not respond to messages seeking comment Friday and Monday.
According to Enforcement Division documents, 42 bets were placed via in-person kiosks on 12 college basketball games on February 23 and 24, 2022, after the results were already known. William Hill paid customers just over $5,000 for six bets before realizing the mistake. Remaining stakes have been voided and the customer's original stake has been returned.
William Hill blamed the mistake on London-based sportsbook content supplier Openbet, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
A similar error allowed illegal bets to be placed on two boxing matches.
On June 11, 2022, William Hill placed a bet on the Chris Kongo vs. Sebastian Formella boxing match, which was advertised to start at noon. However, the match started at 11:15am and ended at 11:55am.
On April 15, 2023, William Hill placed a bet on the Denzel Bentley vs. Kieran Smith match after the match had also already concluded. The company had scheduled the fight to start at noon, but it started at 11:55 a.m. and ended with a knockout just 45 seconds later.
The agency also charged London-based sports betting technology company Amerco with 10,000 yen charges in March 2022 for violations such as allowing bets on its sportsbook PlayUp on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg's inauguration as the next U.S. president. fined $. A recent court ruling allowed political gambling in last month's election, but not at the time the bet was placed.
PlayUp used Amelco and Sportradar as its sportsbook providers. Amerco said in a filing with the Enforcement Division that Sportsradar listed the U.S. presidential election in a betting category that Amerco marked as “true” and automatically placed it in the betting market menu.
Amerco told the division that its trading team does not recognize the U.S. presidential election as an event on which betting is not permitted.
Sportradar says it does not label any betting markets as licensed or unlicensed in its data feed, and it is the responsibility of each sports betting company to ensure they only offer betting that complies with local laws. he added.
Sportradar also noted that the department did not impose any fines, adding that Amerco was “solely responsible” for the violations.
Do you want to bet on college basketball?
PlayUp also accepted two bets worth nearly $700 on a Seton Hall University basketball game on January 18, 2023, in violation of New Jersey state law prohibiting bets on college teams.
PlayUp and Amelco did not respond to requests for comment on Monday. $1 bets on Buttigieg are now void.
It's not the first time something like this has happened.
In November 2021, the department fined Malta-based sports betting technology company Kambi Group and Chicago-based Rush Street Interactive $1,000 each for betting on UK soccer matches that have already ended. I was punished. And in September, it fined bet365 $33,000 for betting on basketball, golf and mixed martial arts events that have already ended.
