Two West Virginia casinos that suspended sports betting operations this week are promising to honor all outstanding bets that have been decided, but otherwise are leaving customers in the dark with their funds in the bookmakers' possession.
The sportsbooks at Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras casinos, as well as their online betting platform BetLucky.com, halted service Wednesday night. Patrons who contacted customer support weren't given any time frame for when the sportsbook would be operating again or when their funds would be available.
Delaware North, the company that owns Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras casinos, pointed to a contractual dispute between vendors as the cause of the disruption.
"We have been informed by Miomni Gaming, our sports wagering platform provider in West Virginia, that they have encountered a contract dispute with a third-party platform provider," Delaware North said in a statement. "This has resulted in the interruption of the Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras sports-betting operations as well as the BetLucky.com mobile app from accepting new sports wagers. We are honoring and redeeming all resulted bets and are working to determine a time frame to restoration. We apologize for the interruption in service."
LegalSportsReport.com first reported the suspension of sports betting operations at the two casinos.
A message at the top of the BetLucky app Friday morning said, "We are currently experiencing system issues. We are working to resolve these issues."
The West Virginia Lottery, which oversees the state's sports betting, did not immediately return phone messages.
West Virginia was the fourth state to open legal sportsbooks after the U.S. Supreme Court this past May struck down the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992, the federal statute that had restricted state-sponsored sports betting to primarily Nevada.
The BetLucky sports betting app launched in late December, the first mobile sportsbook in West Virginia.