Fanatics Pays Out and Refunds Wembanyama Bets After Injury Ends Season

Fanatics bettors who put money down on Victor Wembanyama claiming his first Defensive Player of the Year award received an early payout Friday. 

The sportsbook announced it was paying out all straight bets on the Spurs star to win the award, a day after it was announced the 21-year-old’s season was over due to a blood clot in his right shoulder. Fanatics also refunded all parlays involving Wembanyama. 

Other sportsbooks aren’t following suit (at least not yet). Spokespeople for FanDuel and BetMGM told Front Office Sports that both companies don’t have any current plans to pay out or refund any bets related to the Frenchman, who was the overwhelming favorite to win the award in just his second NBA season. 

Prior to Thursday, Wembanyama was listed as an overwhelming favorite (-2500 odds) to win Defensive Player of the Year on Fanatics’ sportsbook, far outpacing the runner-up candidates such as Jaren Jackson Jr. and Evan Mobley (+3000). 

Fanatics has a Fair Play rule, which guarantees the company will refund prop bets if a bettor takes the over and a player gets injured early in a game (in the NBA it’s the first quarter). The rule covers straight prop bets, parlays and same game parlays. 

While betting on award winners isn’t a prop bet and the NBA season long passed the halfway point, injury was really the only hurdle stopping Wembanyama from winning the award, which is why Fanatics applied the rule to Wembanyama’s reward-related bets.

DraftKings did not respond to a request for comment.