‘Human Error’ Blamed For Crash Of TVG Wagering Site On Derby Day

Kip Levin, CEO of TVG, apologized to customers of the advance deposit wagering website Saturday night, saying “human error” caused the company's online platform to crash, shutting out bettors wanting to wager on the Kentucky Derby.

The site became unavailable at approximately 5:30 p.m. EDT, an hour before the Derby's scheduled post-time of 6:35 p.m. and was still inaccessible to most customers when the race went off at 6:51 p.m. Horseplayers took to Twitter, complaining that this was not the first time the site had crashed on a big racing day. Some managed to call in their bets through telephone operators at the company's wagering hub.

On Saturday night, Levin emailed the following statement to TVG customers:

“At TVG, we know how important it is to provide a great experience to our wagering account holders, not only on the first Saturday in May, but every day. Today, plain and simple, we let many of you down, and we're sorry.

“We build our products to handle enormous amounts of volume and have committed significant time and resources to accommodate a growing customer base. This year in particular, we took unprecedented measures to ensure a great experience for our customers. Regretfully, due to human error, we introduced today's problem during a final readiness check. This won't happen again.

“We understand you have a choice as to where you bet and we thank you for playing with us. I promise you that over the coming days and months we will do everything in our power to earn back your trust and to ensure our systems are ready for the exciting Spring and Summer racing season. We will continue to update you on our progress.

“I sincerely thank you for being a TVG customer.”

The failure by TVG contributed to wagers on the 2016 Kentucky Derby declining by 10 percent. Churchill Downs officials reported $124.7 million was wagered on the race, down from a record $137.9 million in 2015. It was lowest amount wagered on the Kentucky Derby since 2011.