Two cases of sports betting violation came to light last week by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE). One involves a sportsbook taking bets after the game was over and the other a sportsbook takin bets on events they should not have. In the end, it led to the gambling headline, New Jersey Fines 2 Sportsbooks for Sports Betting Violation.
According to the DGE, they have issued fines to the William Hill sportsbook and Amelco. Both got a fine for different reasons that took place at different time. However, both sportsbooks are learning that the DGE is not playing around when it comes to violating their rules.
So here is what took place…
New Jersey Fines 2 Sportsbooks for Sports Betting Violation
William Hill Gets a $20,000 Fine for taking Bets on a Game after it was Already Over
Last week, the DGE imposed a fine of $20,000 on William Hill for improperly accepting bets during 2022 and 2023. This is because during that period of time they accepted bets after the event was already over.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that this situation has arisen once more in Atlantic City. While rare, it does happen where a sportsbook has faced penalties for accepting $25,000 in bets on college basketball, hockey games, and boxing matches after their outcomes had been determined.
It is a rare occurrence, but when it does transpire, it is great for sports bettors. This is because it is an opportunity to place wagers on a game that has already concluded. Therefore, they already know which bet to make to win the wager. On the other hand, the sportsbooks have to cancel the wagers which leads to a lot of negative press and of course, a fine.
The company subsequently voided the majority of these bets upon realizing the mistake; however, some payouts had already been made to customers.
William Hill operates physical sportsbooks in Atlantic City at the Caesars, Harrah’s, and Tropicana casinos.
According to reports from the enforcement division, on February 23 and 24, 2022, the sportsbook accepted 42 bets through in-person kiosks on 12 college basketball games after the results were already known. William Hill disbursed just over $5,000 to customers on six of these bets before identifying the error. The remaining bets were voided, and the initial wagers were refunded to the customers.
William Hill blames the error on OpenBet, their sportsbook data content supplier. Furthermore, they said they have taken steps so it does not happen again. Many speculate they are using a similar technology used by sportsbook pay per head providers. This is because Pay Per Head sportsbook have never have any issues like this.
Amelco Gets a Fine for Accepting Bets that are Prohibited in New Jersey
The New Jersey DGE imposed a fine of $10,000 on Amelco, taking a wager in a US. Political election. The infraction was made by PlayUp, a sportsbook that uses Amelco for their sportsbook software. In March 2022, it took a wager on the possibility of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg becoming the next U.S. president.
Since then, recent judicial rulings have permitted political presidential betting in the most recent election. However, at the time the wager was taking, such betting was not permissible.
PlayUp relied on Amelco and Sportradar as its sportsbook providers. In submissions to the enforcement division, Amelco indicated that Sportradar categorized the U.S. presidential election under a classification of bets that Amelco had marked as “true,” which led to its automatic inclusion in the betting market offerings.
Amelco informed the division that its trading team did not identify the U.S. election as an event that was unauthorized for betting purposes.
Sportradar clarified that it does not designate any of the betting markets in its data feed as either authorized or unauthorized, emphasizing that it is the responsibility of each sports betting operator to ensure compliance with local regulations.
Furthermore, Sportradar pointed out that the division did not impose any penalties on it, asserting that Amelco bore “sole liability” for the infringement.
Additionally, PlayUp accepted two bets totaling nearly $700 on a Seton Hall University basketball game on January 18, 2023, which contravened state legislation that prohibits wagering on New Jersey college teams.
Neither PlayUp nor Amelco responded to inquiries for comment on Monday. The $1 wager on Buttigieg was subsequently voided.
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