William Hill betting app’s failure leads to Super Bowl chaos

It was a super debacle.

On the biggest sports betting day of the year Sunday, countless gamblers in Nevada were unable to place their bets on the Super Bowl — which has brought more than $1 billion in wagers to the state’s sportsbooks since 2017, including $153.2 million this year.

The day after the Chiefs rallied for a 38-35 win over the Eagles, countless bettors who had placed bets on the Super Bowl still were unable to collect their winnings.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board said in a statement that it is “aware of the issue and board agents from the Enforcement and Technology Division are investigating the matter.”

The issue is that the William Hill sportsbook mobile betting app crashed in Nevada on Sunday before the Super Bowl started. It was down for most of the game and, as of 8 p.m. Monday, was still down.

Users clicking on the app are sent to a page that reads, “Unable to start. We are currently experiencing technical difficulties, we apologize for the inconvenience.”

William Hill didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment.

The book’s customer support is telling customers that it has no ETA on when the app will be fixed. Also, customers can’t withdraw money at William Hill books inside casinos because their computer systems are down across the board and they can’t access any accounts.

William Hill also serves as the platform for the Caesars Sportsbook app in Nevada. Both apps are dealing with the same issues. Caesars didn’t respond to a request for comment.

William Hill posted a message on Twitter (@WilliamHillUS) Monday morning that “Our team is aggressively working to restore full functionality to the William Hill Nevada app. We understand how frustrating this is for our guests, and we apologize for the inconvenience. We are moving quickly to resolve the problem. Thank you for your continued patience.”

A William Hill bettor who asked to remain anonymous showed the Review-Journal a screenshot of a $10,000 winning wager on the game that paid more than $7,000.

But now he’s not sure if the winnings have been credited to his account.

“At this point, do I even have action on the Super Bowl? Are the bets I made still on there or are they pixie dust?” he said. “It’s scary not knowing what happened.”

The same bettor, echoing the sentiments of many others, also said the app being down during the game cost them money they would’ve won live betting on the Chiefs to win when they trailed by 10.

Also known as in-play wagering, live betting allows gamblers to make bets while the game is going on. It has exploded in popularity in recent years.

The bettor said he wanted to wager on the Chiefs at halftime. “That’s when I tried to log in and noticed the app didn’t work,” he said.

William Hill initially tweeted during the game that it was “aware of an issue affecting users in NV. Our team is looking into this, and we hope to have a resolution as soon as possible. We will provide any updates here as they become available.”

After the game, it posted that it was “currently in the process of settling all Super Bowl wagers. We appreciate your patience.”

In response to the lack of access to the app, William Hill bettors posted hundreds of angry comments on Twitter.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.