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DraftKings customers are angry after being denied the opportunity to cash in on Pick6 money they were allegedly owed due to what DraftKings says was a technical issue with their software. Some users were reportedly allowed to keep the money won from the glitch, while others had theirs stripped away.
A post on X from a DraftKings customer “BimmyChimmy” went viral after he explained what happened to him during a Pick6 contest:
DRAFTKINGS TOOK $100,000 FROM MY ACCOUNT:
Last night, DraftKings went ahead and paid me out $18,500 in winning bets, along with $80,000 in pending bets on Pick-6.
Upon withdrawing a portion of the 18.5k DraftKings froze my account, rescinded the payouts and cancelled my withdrawal. Upon rescinding the money they unlocked my account with no communication or explanation. As the Pick-6 Sets were still pending I gave the benefit of the doubt and assumed it would be repaid.
They have now gone and systematically deleted all 9 of my slips, they’re no longer in the live category or recent picks.
THERE HAS BEEN NO COMMUNICATION from DraftKings regarding this in the last 16 hours.
Please RT if also affected.
DraftKings Pick6 is a peer-to-peer daily fantasy sports variant. Users pick whether athletes will achieve more or less than their projected statistical total in a game. “BimmyChimmy” included screenshots of his NBA and NHL picks from Jan. 9 games in each league.
Pick6 uses payouts akin to parimutuel betting. Payouts depend in part on how many other users have the same picks.
A technical issue reportedly allowed users to place bets on results that had already occurred. One user said the markets remained up for “10-20 minutes” following when they should have closed.
“The glitch was DK forgot to move the 1st quarter/1st half plays and people abused it to take a shit ton of money,” the person wrote.
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Multiple Users Impacted
Another DraftKings customer, “Hayden,” was one of the many others who were also negatively impacted by the DraftKings technical issue. He presented his side on X and PokerScout reached out to him to hear his side of what happened:
It’s affected a decent sized amount of people. There were error lines which caused us to be paid out pretty hefty amounts.
While numerous users jumped on the mistake, whether or not they got the money seemed to vary. It may have been based simply on whether users withdrew the money before DraftKings could freeze it. Hayden suggested as much:
DK actually PAID out (I have ss and transaction history) and allowed some people to withdraw (canceled mine) and some actually went thru to their bank. For those who werent quick enough, balance was wiped COMPLETELY (even initial money) and almost all picks from that day were wiped. The NBA picks we hit were deleted from our account and support has said nothing but it was a technical error.
Wiping the balance has caused Hayden to have an inaccurate profit and loss report, which affects his taxes.
Due to this, I have a PNL that is $9k above what it should be so I’m getting taxed on that right now.
Moving forward, Hayden is considering legal action and exploring the options available to him to receive payment. He says that if DraftKings will not seek to recover money from others who were paid, then it’s only fair that he receive his as well.
I’m in conversation with my own legal action and I know a bunch of others are trying to see if we can get paid. Most important thing is that if DK has no interest in trying to get the money back from the people who withdrew then I want to have a case to get my money.
To complicate the situation, Hayden is from Texas, which does not have an official gaming sector. That makes his options for restitution more limited, as there is no gaming commission to accept a complaint.
Not everyone had sympathy for Hayden and the others affected. Some chastised them for seeking payment from what are known as “palps” (palpable errors) in the industry:
That’s what everyone on X is whining about. They want to go to the gaming commission and say DraftKings needs to honor their tickets even though all their bets are 100% based on results that already occurred.
DraftKings Response
DraftKings did not give a direct response about this situation when PokerScout reached out, but they did go to X to clarify what happened.
Pick6 experienced a technical issue on 1/9 where some picks remained available to be selected after they became ineligible.
This led to temporary payout adjustments for impacted entries. Any unrelated payouts have been manually re-credited, and all valid picks have been paid in full.
We appreciate your patience as we resolved this.
Many users replied to this post with examples of their accounts still having issues with payment, similar to Hayden’s ordeal. DraftKings encouraged each of its user to reach out with their username to receive a more detailed reply to their specific situation.
