If we're going to talk business, all major sportsbooks void odds for being wrong. I've even had Pinnacle void for odds errors before. Sometimes as a gesture of goodwill, they'll pay errors, but everyone betting on errors shouldn't be upset if they end up being voided, especially if it's voided before the match starts.
You can argue the ethics of this all you want, but that's just how the industry is. I think the industry would be very different if books were forced to pay errors - margins would be way higher so the average player loses more at the expense of a few smart people writing bots to immediately find errors and max bet them.
Exactly. I'm using this case to try and have a much broader discussion about betting in general, while remaining on point here as well. Ethics are important and we should be demanding more from our bookies, especially the ones we have some sort of connection with. After all, playing the ethics card did get us at least that 25% bonus FJ is offering now - they were adamant their decision was final and no compensation would be given.
Smart people do write bots, bots do take advantage of arbitrage opportunities, but then these accounts get betting restrictions - and the betting site wins again. Not fair once more, because I never heard anyone getting restricted while losing big.
I don't agree that margins can be much higher, 1.85 for a 50/50 bet is already way too low. We started from 1.95, some sites still have it (FJ has among the best and fairest odds for these markets), the bookies are again bleeding us as much as they can. Just because we still pay up.
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Regarding this case, it's not just that the bet is being voided. They actually told him he can cash out, so it's an error on an error. He also thought he had an open bet - if it was voided instantly, he would have bet elsewhere.
Although I do stand on the side of the player, I can also see that FJ is trying to sort this out. Their TOC protects them so I appreciate them still deciding to offer something - no matter my general opinion that these types of errors should be solved at a cost of the betting provider, not the user.