DraftKings Refunds Some Lost Bets

The Big Ten Conference kicked off its football season last weekend and delivered perhaps the best game of the season on opening weekend.

The Indiana Hoosiers stunned the Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday in a game that prompted DraftKings to refund some bets.

Penn State took a 28-20 lead with just minutes left in the game before Indiana was able to respond with a touchdown drive of its own. The Hoosiers were able to convert the two-point conversion with just 22 seconds remaining in the game, sending the battle into overtime.

Penn State quickly scored a touchdown in the first overtime to take a 35-28 lead, but then it was Indiana’s turn to take the field. After Indiana scored a touchdown to make it 35-34, the Hoosiers decided to go for a two-point conversion and the victory.

Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. dove for the pylon and the victory and the call on the field was a successful two-point conversion. After a long replay review, the ruling on the field stood, giving the Hoosiers the victory.

It was Indiana’s first win over a Top 10 program since 1987, and it flipped the Big Ten standings upside down. Almost immediately after the game, DraftKings Sportsbook announced that it would be refunding some bets.

The company announced that it would be refunding all moneyline wagers on Penn State, including those bets that were placed in-game. The sportsbook did not refund parlay bets that included the Penn State moneyline as one of the games.

Even though this game took place in Indiana, this refund is available for bettors across all of its markets. Pennsylvania is one of the biggest markets for DraftKings, and this move was definitely received well in that state.

The company did not announce how much it was set to lose by refunding all of these wagers, but it will help the operator gain fans in a highly-competitive market. This is not the first time that DraftKings Sportsbook has done something similar to this since the launch of sports betting in 2018.

Other Operators Doing the Same

DraftKings was the only operator that offered refunds for this game, but this has become a common practice in the industry. Sportsbook operators are looking for ways to pay back bettors that suffer some sort of a “bad beat.”

PointsBet Sportsbook has what it calls a “Karma Committee” that looks for these things each day and has a long history of paying back lost bets. The operator did so earlier this when the Tennessee Titans failed to cover the spread because of several missed kicks.

FanDuel Sportsbook is another operator that has refunded bets, including earlier this year when Novak Djokovic was disqualified from the US Open. Bettors should not rely on these “gifts” from the companies, but it’s some extra insurance when crazy things happen.

As a result of this game going into overtime, bettors on the over at FanDuel Sportsbook had a huge day, as the over total didn’t hit until that point. Ninety-seven percent of the handle and 84 percent of all wagers were placed on the over.

For more sports news and legal sports betting in Indiana, check out more stories on our blog.

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