Bret Tison and Melvin Fowler each wagered $200 on Spanish golfer Joel Moscatel Nachshon to win the opening round of the 2023 Fortinet Australian PGA Championship, held at the Royal Queensland Golf Club in Australia. However, both were left in disbelief on Wednesday after the Nevada Gaming Control Board voted to reverse their winnings.
Nevada Gaming Regulator Reverts the Two bettors’ Winnings
The decision followed a claim by the sportsbook that accepted the bets, which argued that the originally posted odds contained “obvious errors.” The board sided with the sportsbook, nullifying the payouts and sparking questions over betting integrity and consumer protection within the state’s regulated sports wagering industry.
Tison and Fowler placed their wagers through the William Hill Sportsbook, operated by Caesars Entertainment Inc., taking advantage of +20000 live odds they spotted on Nachshon to win the first round of the 2023 Fortinet Australian PGA Championship. Each $200 bet stood to return a payout of $40,200 if successful.
However, when Tison repeatedly checked the sportsbook app, he noticed that William Hill had adjusted the odds on Nachshon’s first-round win to +400, drastically lower than the original +20000. This reduced the potential payout to just $1,000. At the time of the wager, Nachshon was ranked 281st in the world golf rankings. While he ultimately finished the tournament in seventh place with an 11-under-par total, he led the field after the first round, tying the course record with a score of 63.
The Bettors Take the Case to the Nevada Regulator
Tison filed a patron dispute with the Nevada Gaming Control Board and had a hearing on January 9, 2024, before Control Board agent Jason Plum, who ruled in his favor and ordered William Hill to pay the full $40,200. However, just 20 days later, William Hill appealed the decision, prompting the board to schedule a rehearing for October 2024.
Fowler experienced a nearly identical situation. At his own January 9 hearing, Control Board agent Brett Goff also ruled in his favor, awarding him $40,200. The only distinction in Fowler’s case was an additional $300 wager he placed on Nachshon at +6500 odds, which were also available at the time.
How the Error Happened
William Hill has maintained that the originally posted +20000 odds were a clear mistake. The company cited its betting terms, which allow it to amend wagers when “odds or terms of a wager have been misquoted because of human or system error.”
The confusion stemmed from how Joel Moscatel Nachshon’s name was entered into the system by William Hill’s golf data provider. When added to the list of competitors, his middle and last names appeared in all capital letters: “Joel MOSCATEL NACHSHON.” The William Hill system interpreted this formatting as a separate golfer, inadvertently listing Nachshon twice: once at +6500 odds and again as a long shot at +20000 odds.
When William Hill’s appeals came before the three-member Nevada Gaming Control Board on Wednesday, hearing examiner Augusta Massey recommended partially reversing the payouts. Under her recommendation, Tison would receive $1,000 instead of the full $40,200. Fowler would be awarded $12,200 for one of his bets, but the remaining $28,000 of his expected payout would be voided.