FanDuel has apologized to daily fantasy sports players and issued compensation after a technical failure disrupted its Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) platform ahead of the opening Sunday of the 2026 NFL season.

The outage occurred in the hours before the first wave of Week 1 games, leaving many users unable to modify lineups, access contests, view player information, or complete roster construction before entries locked. The disruption triggered widespread complaints from customers who said they were unable to react to late-breaking injury updates and inactive player announcements before kickoff.

The company acknowledged the incident publicly the following day and confirmed that refunds had been issued to affected users.

“To our DFS customers – we acknowledge that yesterday’s site issue was unacceptable,” FanDuel said in a statement released on Monday and cited by Covers. “NFL Week 1 is supposed to be a joyous time, and we fumbled. The team investigated the issue and has now refunded the net losses to our impacted customers.

We remain committed to offering you a better DFS experience and have plenty of fun in store for Week 2 and beyond.”

Lineup Changes Blocked Before Kickoff

According to users, problems began roughly 90 minutes before the start of Sunday’s early NFL games. During that period, some platform functions stopped working, preventing players from creating new lineups or making changes to existing entries.

The timing proved particularly problematic because many fantasy participants wait until shortly before kickoff to finalize their selections based on injury reports and other late developments. Several users reported that they had reserved spots in contests but were unable to finish building their rosters before entries locked.

Others said they had entered placeholder lineups that remained unchanged because the platform did not allow edits once technical issues emerged.

When attempting to make roster changes, some users encountered an error message on the website stating: “An unexpected error occurred. Please close this modal and try again. If the issue persists, please contact customer support.”

Mobile app users reported receiving a different message that read: “Content Unavailable. There was an error. Please try again later.”

The problem persisted until after lineups locked for contests tied to the early Sunday games, meaning many players were unable to make intended adjustments before competitions began.

FanDuel later confirmed that the issue affected a significant number of customers.

“A lot of users were having issues,” a FanDuel spokesperson said. “Unfortunately, not all of those issues were mitigated before kickoff.”

The company has not disclosed how many users were impacted.

Refunds Issued as Complaints Spread Online

The outage prompted a wave of criticism across social media, where customers questioned both the platform’s reliability and its initial response to the disruption.

Some users claimed they were originally informed that refunds would not be available. One customer responded to a FanDuel social media post by asking: “How is it even legal for you guys to continue to ignore what happened yesterday”.

By Monday, FanDuel had begun issuing refunds and account credits to affected players. The company said compensation was calculated individually based on contest entries and any winnings generated from those entries.

A spokesperson explained the process by stating: “So, if you had $10 worth of entries, and you won $5, you get a $5 refund.”

FanDuel also said that customers who believe they were affected but have not received compensation should contact customer support.

Not every player was satisfied with the remedy. Fantasy analyst and content creator Josh Engleman criticized the compensation structure on social media, writing: “Thanks for playing our contest. Instead of giving you back your $750 in real money, here’s $750 in bonus cash that is only valid for 7 days.”

According to reports, bonus cash cannot be withdrawn and must be used to enter future FanDuel contests.

The company has not revealed the total amount distributed through refunds and credits, and it remains unclear what percentage of its DFS user base was affected by the outage.

DraftKings Seizes Opportunity

The disruption also created an opening for FanDuel’s largest competitor. DraftKings used the incident as part of a marketing push aimed at fantasy sports players frustrated by the outage.

“Your DFS home should probably be somewhere that treats DFS like it matters,” DraftKings wrote in an X post Monday. “We’ve noticed other companies just don’t care. We’re not shocked.”

FanDuel remains the largest sports betting and iGaming operator in the United States by market share. The Flutter-owned company originally built much of its brand through daily fantasy sports contests, including salary-cap tournaments, head-to-head matchups, and 50/50 competitions available across more than 40 states.

The outage therefore struck one of the company’s longest-standing products during one of the busiest days of the fantasy sports calendar. While the platform eventually returned to normal operation after the early games had started, many affected contests had already locked, preventing users from making the changes they intended.

“After the early games were underway, they were able to so things as normal,” a FanDuel spokesperson said. “A lot of this is still under investigation. We’re getting into the weeds of it Monday afternoon.”

With Week 2 approaching, FanDuel will be under pressure to ensure that similar issues do not affect another NFL Sunday, particularly during a season-opening period when fantasy participation and customer engagement are typically at their highest.