Punters fume after betting sites crash on Melbourne Cup day
Punters have been left up in arms after Sportsbet and Ladbrokes crashed just hours before the Melbourne Cup.
With punters looking to place last-minute bets or have a flutter on the lead-up races, both sites went down about two hours before the great race.
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Both sites’ apps told customers they were experiencing technical difficulties.
As of 2.30pm AEDT, Sportsbet had come back online.
But needless to say, the masses were far from happy:
First Sportsbet crash …. then Ladbrokes.
WOW!!!@sportsbetmedia @ladbrokes
— Andy Raymond (@Andy_Raymond) November 6, 2018
The race that stops the nation has also stopped Sportsbet and Ladbrokes. #MelbourneCup
— James Willoughby (@jwilloughby26) November 6, 2018
Sportsbet down. Unexpected demand on Cup Day? pic.twitter.com/7Nd22eKKI0
— Snert Underpant (@SnertUnderpant) November 6, 2018
Is it just me or is @sportsbetcomau down?? #sportsbet
— Paul Jones (@paulmurdochj) November 6, 2018
#sportsbet bet down hope they pay me all my winners I want to back no 2 in race 6 @sportsbetcomau
— G.Shumway (@DamienOlenczuk) November 6, 2018
Hey @Sportsbet & @ladbrokescomau you need to pick up your act, both down on Cup day while @BetEasy are messaging me telling me they’re working!!!!
— anthony brogan (@broges99) November 6, 2018
Ladbrokes and Sportsbet are currently down and out. Wouldn’t want to be answering the phones right now. #MelbourneCup
— MelbTiger Talk (@MelbTigerTalk) November 6, 2018
Ahhhh @sportsbetcomau – just when I thought your App was invincible 🥴🥴#sportsbetdown #sportsbet #MelbCup2018
— Brooke Plummer (@iBrookie) November 6, 2018
Ladbrokes app suffering nationwide outage. What a day to have it go down. #melbcup
— Sarah Harris 🌮 (@SarahHarris) November 6, 2018
If something gets you down today, just remember you could be working at ladbrokes customer service 1.5 hrs out from the #MelbourneCup and your website and app are offline. https://t.co/8cRM6yGns8 pic.twitter.com/7HJb4paygg
— Gerard Doyle (@GerBot) November 6, 2018
Truly incredible how many punters suddenly miss out on backing winners when a betting website is down #ladbrokes
— Aaron Murphy (@AaronMurphy1990) November 6, 2018
I hope nobody using @ladbrokescomau wanted to bet on Shraaoh in the last #LadbrokesDown
— Lachie Mann (@LachieMann) November 6, 2018
Ladbrokes responded to a number of disgruntled punters on Twitter.
“Our team are working very hard to sort out the issues. We understand that the timing is very poor,” one response read.
Hi Adam. Our team are working very hard to sort out the issues. We understand that the timing is very poor.
— Ladbrokes.com.au (@ladbrokescomau) November 6, 2018
Hi Tod. We apologise for the issues that we are having. The team is working very hard to get the site back online as soon as possible.
— Ladbrokes.com.au (@ladbrokescomau) November 6, 2018
Hi Adrian. We definitely understand your frustration. We are working extremely hard to try and get the app back online.
— Ladbrokes.com.au (@ladbrokescomau) November 6, 2018
Australians are expected to place more than 35 million individual bets over the four-day Melbourne Cup carnival.
Rain eased at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon but the track was still expected to be heavy for the Melbourne Cup after 46mm since 7.30am.
Noted wet-tracker Magic Circle firmed to the $7 equal favourite for the Cup with Yucatan who has eased from $5.50.
Stewards delayed the second and third races onTuesday because of visibility concerns in the first race and say they hope to make up the time to ensure the Cup goes off at its scheduled time of 3pm.
Yahoo7 has contacted Sportsbet and Ladbrokes for comment.
