FanDuel said Friday that it was paying out all its customers in New Jersey who bet on the US women to win the World Cup.
The operator announced the news shortly after 11 a.m. ET, four hours before the team’s quarterfinal match against France. The company says the total payout, which is often written off as a marketing expense, will come to around $400,000.
As the market in New Jersey has become more competitive — there are now 14 mobile apps to legally bet with — promotions like early payouts have become more common.
“We are paying out our customers early so they can just enjoy the game and not worry about advancing,” said John Sheeran, FanDuel’s director of risk and trading.
FanDuel also gave up about $400,000 when it paid out bettors who bet on Alabama to win the College Football Playoff more than a month before the game was played. The Crimson Tide lost to Clemson, so they had to pay out Clemson bettors as well.
FanDuel spokesman Kevin Hennessy said that there wasn’t a particularly big bet to pay out on Team USA, but in aggregate, it added up. At the start of the tournament, Team USA was +350 to win it all and was joint-favorite to win, tied with today’s opponent France. But 90% of the money bet in the futures market were on the Yanks.
The US women come into Friday afternoon’s match having not lost a World Cup contest since the 2011 Final vs Japan, a stretch of 10 games (9-0-1). In those games, they have outscored opponents by a 32-3 margin.
Bettors at FanDuel are expecting that streak to continue on Friday. At the time of writing the operator reported 90% of the bets were on the US to advance past France.
