Online sports-betting sites crashed nationwide in the lead-up to the Melbourne Cup, the busiest betting event of the year.
Wagering services run by Sportsbet, Ladbrokes and online betting exchange Betfair all went down, with punters temporarily unable to place bets on their smartphone apps or computers.
Twenty minutes before the main race on Tuesday, Tabcorp also reported problems with its third-party payment providers. It is understood the payment issues were fully restored just before the Cup.
Online bookmaker BetEasy, the third-largest provider behind Sportsbet and Tabcorp, was signing up as many as 500 new customers a minute in the lead-up to the 3pm race as a result of its competitors’ technical problems.
Ladbrokes told punters, via its social media channels, that it was doing all it could to bring services back online as soon as possible, but it was unable guarantee they would be available in time for the main race at 3pm. Ladbrokes’ website and app also went down in the run-up to last year’s Melbourne Cup Day, setting off a storm of social media complaints from punters.
Shortly after 2.15pm on Tuesday, Sportsbet’s mobile betting platform was back up and running, while technical teams were continuing to work on the desktop platform. In a statement, Sportsbet said it had experienced technical issues due to “unprecedented demand and we fixed these issues as a priority”. “Hundreds of thousands of our customers enjoyed a punt on the big race,” a spokesman said. “We sincerely apologise to those who experienced issues or inconvenience.”
Betfair’s site crashed temporarily just before 2pm but the company said it was back working again within about five minutes.
For the nation’s wagering industry, Melbourne Cup Day is easily the biggest betting day on the calendar.
Australian sports-betting companies ramp up staffing and technology to cater for the extraordinary volume of bets placed on the day. Australia’s biggest gambling company, Tabcorp, which runs retail and online wagering services, said it expected to process 15 million bets on Tuesday, with a peak of 4300 bets in the busiest single second.
Wagering data from last year's Melbourne Cup Day showed that, in the immediate lead-up to the main race, a peak of 850 bets a second were being placed through the largest online bookmaker, Sportsbet. The busiest single minute saw 26,000 bets placed.
Punters took to social media to vent their frustration at the meltdown on Tuesday afternoon, with some claiming their deposits were taken in the moments before the betting apps crashed.
“So I placed a bet online 10 mins ago and my deposit is gone but bet is stuck in pending telling me to 'check back in a few minutes,” one punter tweeted. “Did it go through or is it lost?”
Ladbrokes apologised for the crash, and said it understood that the timing “couldn't be worse”
One furious punter demanded his bets be refunded, and for his account with Sportsbet to be closed.
According to figures released on Tuesday afternoon, the biggest bet placed via Tabcorp on the Cup was $100,000 on Yucatan at $6/$2.25. The largest placed on the winner, Cross Counter, was $50,000 at $10.
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