Players who chose to bet on the University of Alabama to win the College Football Playoff National Championship with a FanDuel Sportsbook are already being paid their winnings, even though the event is over a month away.
The company announced it is treating the Crimson Tide as the winner already and paying out on single-game bets to customers as a reward for players jumping on the Tide train early.
Paying out futures
All wagers placed online or via a mobile account have already been paid while in-person bets will be paid when the bettor takes their winning slip to the location where they placed the bet. Only wagers placed before 5pm EST on 30 November are eligible for a payout at any FanDuel facility.
Alabama was marked as the winner by FanDuel on single-game wagers for the team to win the Championship game as well as any outstanding parlay bets that required the team winning the title.
The university has enjoyed a dominant season, beating the Georgia Bulldogs this past week, with a score of 35 to 28, during the SEC Championship game.
FanDuel decided to pay out the National Championship wagers as the Tide has had such an impression season, opening up this year with a plus-195, which is close to 2:1 odds. With those odds, the team would pay out $195 for a $100 wager.
After their season, the team now has minus-280 odds to win the title, which means much more money, $280, would have to be wagered to win a $100 bet.
The big odds change is what caused FanDuel to decide to reward their customers with an early payout. The National Championship game does not take place until the end of December and the Tide now has to play Oklahoma while Notre Dame faces off against Clemson in the Playoffs round.
It is expected that the University of Alabama will play in the National Championship, but as to who their opponent will be is anyone’s guess.
Potential $400,000 loss
With the decision by FanDuel to pay out the bets early, the company could stand to lose close to $400,000 if the Tide does not win the National Championship title. This is because the company will have to pay out bets to players who bet on the team that does win.
On the decision, FanDuel spokesman Kevin Hennessy said: “It’s a way to reward our customers for betting on Alabama when the odds were really hard to make any money doing it.”
The decision to pay out the money early does seem odd, but it helps FanDuel to get noticed in a new industry where competition is steadily building. If bettors hear that FanDuel is paying out bets before a game even takes place, punters may be more willing to use the service when placing their wagers next time.
With a name as big as the Crimson Tide in the mix, FanDuel is definitely going to get noticed!