DraftKings reached a decision regarding Draymond Green prop bets from January 9 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors and will be paying bettors out in full.
"DraftKings will be grading all Draymond Green under markets as winners and issuing cash refunds for all bets on Draymond Green over markets. Customers will see settlement and crediting happening by the end of (Tuesday)," the company said in a statement.
Straight bets on Green under were paid first on Tuesday morning with Same Game Parlays getting settled around 11:45 a.m. ET.
This comes after almost 24 hours of unknown as bets remained unsettled on Monday following Sunday's game.
Read below on the full details of the story.
Monday, Jan. 9 Update
Draymond Green ceremoniously starting in Klay Thompson's return on Sunday wasn't only significant to the long-time teammates. The result of those seven seconds of play are significant in sports betting.
Green started Sunday's game for the Golden State Warriors — the first game back for Thompson since tearing his Achilles 2.5 years ago.
However, Green himself was dealing with a calf injury. After Cleveland won the jump ball, Green slowly moved his way to a Cavaliers player holding the ball. Green lightly fouled him to get a whistle and made his way to the bench. His day was over.
Draymond Green is not playing tonight (left calf tightness), but he still wanted to be on the floor with Klay for his return.
So Green was there for the opening tip and took a foul so he could check out of the game ❤️ pic.twitter.com/puAzOy3rxe
— ESPN (@espn) January 10, 2022
No points, no rebounds, no assists. One foul.
That was Green's stat line in what later became known as an "organized event." The Warriors and Cavaliers knew before the game that Green was only starting as a way to honor Thompson, and would be out of the game after an immediate foul.
This wasn't known until the Warriors PR tweeted the plan at 8:31 p.m. ET. NBA reporter Shams Charania amplified the news at 8:32 p.m. ET to his 1.4 million followers.
Bettors with quick fingers took advantage and bet the under on Green prop bets. FanDuel was first to pull Green's props off the market. DraftKings was almost immediate, at least in the main market.
However, alternate player prop markets remained open a little longer. Draymond Green double-double, Same Game Parlays and live props were not pulled immediately.
It seems simple. The bets were made, so they'll be paid out. That hasn't happened everywhere.
These are NOT my tickets. They were DM’d to me.
This is a SMALL sample size with what is at stake here. I’ve seen MILLIONS (plural) of dollars worth of tickets on this.
He played and recorded a stat. This is a HUGE moment in the history of gambling and how this is graded. pic.twitter.com/VJKsD5uwzI
— Beau L. Wagner🌺 (@BeauLWagner) January 10, 2022
FanDuel has paid out under bets in full. Over bets were marked void. BetMGM confirmed to The Action Network that all under bets were paid. Over bets were losses.
At DraftKings, under bets have yet to be graded while overs were voided.
What's the hold up?
According to Kenny McAndress, who manages a discord community and hosts a gambling show called The Moonshot under the Twitter handle kiiLKenny, many bettors are still on hold.
"From the tickets I've seen in our community alone, it could be in the millions," McAndress told The Action Network.
"We are awaiting on regulatory guidance and bets will be settled soon," is the word from DraftKings support.
What could that regulatory guidance be? It's believed DraftKings could attempt to use a clause that says the sportsbook can void "known events."
Generally, this has been used when glitches leave completely stale lines up. For example, if an NBA player has 20 points but the live line posted is an over/under of 16, that would qualify.
The question will be if this qualifies as a known event. DraftKings and sportsbooks could argue that Warriors tweet establishes this as a known event. Bettors will ask if that tweet is stronger than the letter of the law — if a player is active and sees the court, bets have been graded as a result. Others will say it's not the bettor's fault if a sportsbook is slow to adjust a market.
The Action Network reached out to DraftKings for comment and the company will respond. DraftKings released a statement to ESPN's David Purdum saying "Draymond Green markets offered for the game between the Warriors and Cavaliers on January 9 are currently under review and bet settlements are on hold pending an investigation."
Bets remain unsettled as of Monday night, however some bettors with Green props pending have complained of accounts being severely limited on Monday. Some players wagering $500 to $1000 on bets Sunday could only get down $90 on Monday. The reason for those new restrictions are unconfirmed by DraftKings.
How this is decided will not only potentially swing millions of dollars on this specific event, but it could be monumental in sports betting moving forward.
With sportsbooks becoming official partners with professional sports teams and leagues, details like this are on a bigger stage than they've ever been. It happens in the prop market with individual stats weekly — almost nightly.
