FanDuel Sportsbook customers got a bad-beat bonus this week.

We are talking about the Alliance of American Football that suspended operations in mid-season.

FanDuel called a New Jersey sports betting audible.

And on Wednesday, the company crowned the Orlando Apollos “honorary champions.”

But why?

Here is the explanation from the press release.

“Since the league was unfortunately unable to crown a champion, FanDuel Sportsbook will do so.

“Today, FanDuel Sportsbook Risk and Trading Team has declared the Orlando Apollos the AAF Champions and will pay out all straight futures bets as winners.”

FanDuel paying out all AAF futures

To be fair, the Apollos had a league-best regular season record of 7-1. They are lead by former University of Florida head coach Steve Spurrier.

Customers with futures on the other seven teams will be receiving site credit, too. And this includes the two teams eliminated from the postseason — the Memphis Express and Atlanta Legends.

“Because the FanDuel Sportsbook loves football and we believe this is the very definition of a bad beat for sports fans everywhere, we are also going to pay out straight future wagers for all AAF teams as winners. “

The grand total on these payouts was reported to be “just under $10,000.”

The short story on AAF betting

The first and possibly only AAF season got underway in February — a week after Super Bowl LIII.

And just like NFL and NCAA games, customers could wager on weekly contests. But the final two weeks of the regular season and three postseason games are canceled.

Bettors were left wondering what if the Apollos played out the season? Would they have won it all? This will be one of those great NJ sports betting mysteries.

But FanDuel is not about to let one league’s shortfalls spoil the sports betting experience.

Mike Raffenperger, chief marketing officer of FanDuel Group, gave credit to the AAF “for trying to do something disruptive in the sports landscape.”

“We hope this symbolic gesture shows the players and coaches that sports fans everywhere appreciated the hard work and sacrifices they made for entertaining us with spring football.

And Raffenperger was quick to give a shoutout to the fans:

“While we’ve declared the Apollos honorary champions, we think the biggest winners should be our customers and hope they enjoy their payouts.”

Oh and DraftKings is paying out, too

DraftKings Sportsbook is taking care of its AAF customers, too. The company shared the decision via Twitter:

For bettors looking to move the refunded money into a new bet, here’s a piece of good news: the NCAA College Football market is open.

Here are the early NCAA football championship odds from DraftKings:

  • Alabama +200
  • Clemson +200
  • Ohio State +700
  • Georgia +800
  • Oklahoma +1,200
  • Michigan +1,600
  • Florida +2,500
  • LSU +2,500
  • Texas +2,500

And we are pretty darn sure that national championship game is going to be played.

Bill Gelman

About

Bill Gelman is a veteran sports writer based just outside of Philadelphia and not too far from the Jersey Shore. Bill spends time in Atlantic City writing about casino openings and expansions, special events and world championship boxing at Boardwalk Hall. He is now adding NJ sports betting and online gambling to the mix.