The new PFL Challenger Series has run into an issue pertaining to suspicious betting activity.
ESPN is reporting that bettors who made a wager on pretaped fights for a Challenger Series event, which was billed as a live show, have had their accounts under review. U.S. Integrity sent out alarms to sportsbooks warning that the April 1 PFL Challenger Series event bouts were pretaped.
PFL Responds To Betting Fiasco
Here’s what U.S. Integrity made note of in the alert:
“As such, it’s very possible that any potentially suspicious wagering activity is indicative of nefarious behavior.”
PFL spokesperson Loren Mack responded to the situation:
“Any sportsbooks that took bets on the prerecorded program did so without the consent or knowledge of the PFL,” Mack wrote in an email, adding that the PFL “will further evaluate the matter.” According to a statement from the PFL included in U.S. Integrity’s alert, the league “entered confidentiality agreements with everyone involved.”
Additionally, Mack made note that PFL did not provide any betting lines:
“PFL did not include any betting lines, content, or promotion in connection with the program.”
Senior vice president of communications for fuboTV, Jennifer Press, told ESPN the following:
“The PFL Challenger Series is typically streamed live on Fubo Sports Network. The April 1 event was the lone exception and pre-taped. We inadvertently used the same promo copy for the April 1 show as we did for previous shows, which was a mistake. We regret the error.”
One bettor, Kyle Miller insisted to ESPN that he had no idea the bouts were pretaped and simply made his bets as he would for any sporting event.
“The bets that I placed won. They all won,” Miller said. “The money was in my account … everything was good. Then I log in [Sunday] to place some more bets on UFC this week, and that money was gone.”
