Super Bowl LVII round-up: Mixed fortunes for operators as bettors up in arms over William Hill outage

Last weekend’s Super Bowl LVII was the first to take place in a state with legalized sports betting, and the Chief’s last-minute victory over the Philadelphia Eagles made it a great game for observers and bettors alike.

In what turned out to be an enthralling encounter, the Kansas City Chiefs (5/6) trailed the Philadelphia Eagles (evens) for most of the game and were 27-21 down heading into the fourth quarter.

FOR. THE. LEAD. pic.twitter.com/Qqq8DefGx6

— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 13, 2023

However, touchdowns by Kadarius Toney and Skyy Moore put Kansas ahead before the Eagles levelled the game. A 26-yard run by Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes left Harrison Butker to convert a game-winning field goal from the 27-yard line with just eight seconds remaining.

EGR North America looks at how the traditionally busiest night in the US sports betting calendar affected operators.

 FanDuel Kick of Destiny campaign leaves bettors divided

FanDuel’s first-ever national Super Bowl commercial featured ex-NFL tightend Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski attempting to kick a field goal during the half-time break, with FanDuel promising bettors $10m in free bonuses if he managed the attempt.

Gronk’s kick would ultimately sail wide of the left upright, however the aired kick appeared to be good despite the voiceover announcer suggesting it had missed, leaving many bettors questioning the promotion.

@FanDuel better have 12 more shots showing this is a miss, or they're gonna have a MAJOR scandal on their hands. I'll never bet with them again…. #kickofdestiny pic.twitter.com/C7PmXGtW3C

— Coach (@Coach_Domi_Nate) February 13, 2023

Gronk is my guy, but man all the FanDuel lead up hype for this?? 😂 pic.twitter.com/t94LPT0cBH

— Joe Kayata (@NBC10_Joe) February 13, 2023

Was the FanDuel kick of destiny worse than the PointsBet Brees lightning strike?

— Adam Chernoff (@adamchernoff) February 13, 2023

That was clearly not live. It was recordes and staged. How many kick attempts did he take before he had this miss? Clearly on a stage as well.

— Barter Token (@BarterToken) February 13, 2023

Despite Gronkowski’s miss, FanDuel upped its pledge of Bonus Bets for those who wagered $5 or more on Super Bowl LVII, issuing more than $17m in bonuses to bettors during the showpiece game.

FanDuel reported more than two million active players throughout the game, with a record 50,000 bets per minute being taken during the peak. The firm would also issue $250,000 in wins for its separate ‘Tails Never Fails’ coin toss campaign, with FanDuel’s overall Super Bowl LVII generosity hitting $34m.

Bet365’s Steve Freeth and Betfred’s Alan Firkins sum up their Super Bowl LVII

“Super Bowl LVII was as thrilling surely as any of its 56 predecessors,” Firkins remarked. “In a match no one deserved to lose, Kansas City Chiefs came back from the brink to beat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 courtesy of a late, late field goal.

“In this golden Reid/Mahomes/Kelce era, Kansas City always take a dreadful bite out of the ante-post book, but the Eagles were well-backed favourites on the day and looked for long periods as if that support would be rewarded,” he added.

“Both teams scoring at least 35 points for the first time in history was never going to end well for us and we’ve taken a hammering – without doubt, our worst ever Super Bowl result by some margin,” Freeth commented.

“Where do you start? Super Boosts, Bet Builders, Same Game Parlays, Money Line, Both Teams to score in Every Quarter, Both Teams to Score 35+ and Player To Score three or More Touchdowns were just some of the markets where we suffered the most – Hurts by name, Hurts by nature at 22/1!

“Travis Kelce to Score a TD Anytime was Super Boosted from 4/5 to 6/4 and his legions of backers didn’t have long to wait, setting the tone for the night with a seven-figure pay-out in the first quarter,” he added.

William Hill hit with Nevada Super Bowl outage

William Hill’s Nevada-based sportsbook app left bettors frustrated on Super Bowl Sunday, crashing just hours before kick-off, an outage which has yet to be fully resolved.

We are currently in the process of settling all Super Bowl wagers. We appreciate your patience. https://t.co/vHOcn8fnt9

— William Hill US (@WilliamHillUS) February 13, 2023

Users clicking on the app were sent to a page stating: “Unable to start. We are currently experiencing technical difficulties; we apologize for the inconvenience.”

Unable to claim their respective prize money, Nevadans were understandably annoyed by the outage.

William Hill is still down in Nevada. This is borderline criminal.

— Brad Powers (@BradPowers7) February 13, 2023

10:30am Monday, still down. This is amazing!

— SXM (@SXM21311215) February 13, 2023

The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) was also informed of the outage by frustrated bettors, later issuing a statement reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal suggesting it was “aware of the issue and board agents from the Enforcement and Technology Division are investigating the matter.”

According to latest data provided by the NGCB, more than $153.2m was wagered in Nevada’s 185 sportsbooks on Super Bowl LVII, a figure down 15% from that taken on the previous year’s game.

Commenting on the numbers, NGCB chairman Kirk Hendrick said: “Unaudited figures show a sportsbook win of $11,287,594 was recorded on wagers totaling $153,183,002. This resulted in a hold percentage of 7.4%.

“The Nevada Gaming Control Board looks forward to Allegiant Stadium hosting Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas next year,” Hendrick added.