The House Always Wins
Bettors outraged after DraftKings voids millions in Wyndham Clark bets at Pebble Beach
Ezra Shaw
UPDATE: On Monday, DraftKings released a statement disputing the allegation they changed their golf betting policy during AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. "We are currently reviewing the settlement of certain bets placed on this weekend’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am following the cancellation of the final round due to severe weather," a spokesperson for the sportsbooks said. "DraftKings' house rules are currently the same as they were at the start of this event."
The end of the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was messy on a lot levels. High winds and heavy rain forced the PGA Tour to cancel the remainder of the tournament late Sunday, reducing the retooled signature event to little more than a carbon copy of the no-cut, 54-hole shindig happening down in Mayakoba. The decision also sent sportsbooks, normally well ahead of the action, scrambling to catch up.
DraftKings, especially, found themselves exposed when they left betting lines for Wyndham Clark futures open late Saturday and into Sunday. At that point, Clark, who led Ludvig Aberg by a stroke after firing a course-record 60 on Saturday, was a hot commodity on the betting market. Bettors flooded to place outright bets on Clark while also including him in various parlays. Then, with the weather worsening and another big event looming in Phoenix, the PGA Tour went ahead and chose chaos.
It was an instant disaster for DraftKings, but the house always wins, and as BroBible reports, that appears to be the case yet again. Much to the outrage of gambling Twitter, instead of honoring the estimated millions owed to Wyndham Clark bettors who placed bets after the close of play on Saturday, DraftKings instead changed their golf betting rules and voided all bets that now fell under its new provisions. One such voided bet, a top-20 parlay including Clark, would have been worth well over $700,000 on its own.
It all gets a bit a legalese here, but when the third round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am ended, DraftKings’ golf betting rules stated that any PGA Tour tournament bet would be paid out as long as the players completed at least 36 holes, putting the onus on DraftKings to suspend betting lines in order to dictate validity after that point. They updated language to read that any tournament bet would be void if placed after the last shot of the tournament, which is more of a "set it and forget it" policy.
What this really seems to be boil down to is that DraftKings’ should have suspended betting sooner than they did given the uncertainty surrounding the forecast. Instead, they left lines open and got burned. Sportsbooks don’t generally take kindly to getting burned, so they passed that pleasure down to their customers.
The good news is that bettors who placed their Wyndham Clark bets on Friday or even Saturday morning are still counting their Benjamins this morning. Unfortunately, the later arrivers only have sour grapes to show for their efforts. We’d like to think those folks banked some karma for the double Phoenix-Open-Super-Bowl whammy this weekend, but when it comes to betting on sports, we all know karma will just get you killed.