FanDuel's platform to bet on horse racing — TVG — crashed in the hours before the Kentucky Derby, perhaps the biggest event in the sport's calendar.
Users expressed disappointment Saturday afternoon as they were unable to get to the platform. Comments began to come in around 3:30 p.m. ET as the company's Twitter handle continued as normal.
Official comment didn't come from the account until 4:07 p.m. ET.
"We are aware that some customers are experiencing issues with our wagering platform," the tweet read. "We are working to resolve the problems and apologize for the inconvenience."
At time of publish, the tweet had over 200 comments in the replies.
On Monday, TVG released the following statement:
"We understand and appreciate that the service interruptions we experienced Saturday were frustrating to many of our valued customers and we will be communicating directly with those affected customers over the course of the coming days. TVG takes seriously its place within the racing community and the responsibility it has to deliver the very best fan experience. The issues our app incurred on Saturday did not meet those expectations. We have identified the cause, a technical issue related to a third-party service provider, and are actively making changes to our platform to ensure better performance moving forward."
With 80-1 longshot Rich Strike winning, it was a massive missed opportunity for the company. Few were actually counting on the eventual winner to do much, meaning all of the handle coming in on likelier favorites would've went to the house.
This isn't the first time TVG has crashed on Derby Day. It happened six years ago, with the company calling it "human error."
“We build our products to handle enormous amounts of volume and have committed significant time and resources to accommodate a growing customer base," then-CEO Kip Levin said at the time. "This year in particular, we took unprecedented measures to ensure a great experience for our customers. Regretfully, due to human error, we introduced today's problem during a final readiness check. This won't happen again."
Betting on horse racing on TVG's platform is legal in 33 states.
The Kentucky Derby wasn't the only event TVG missed out on. There are other races at Churchill Downs before the main event, but some customers missed out on those opportunities as well.
Flutter Entertainment, the parent company of FanDuel, has owned TVG since 2009.
