Does it really matter if the Steelers beat the Chargers 11-10 or 17-10 yesterday? Your answer might well depend on whether or not you had loot riding on the outcome, writes the Las Vegas Journal’s Matt Youmans, while self-styled gamblin’ guru RJ Bell of Pregame.com declared “If the touchdown was properly upheld, Steelers bettors would have won about 32 million dollars instead of losing big. This admittedly incorrect call resulted in a 64 million dollar swing in favor of the bookies.”
There’s no shortage of wig-flipping about the latest dent to the NFL’s credibility, but I’d like to think had the outcome of the contest been in question, the relevant stats would’ve been amended. There’s fantasy implications, too, the scariest being the willingness of a daily newspaper to indulge the easily outraged. Of course, as someone who started the Jets D last week, I can afford to be cavalier over someone else’s misfortune.
“If the touchdown was properly upheld, Steelers bettors would have won about 32 million dollars instead of losing big. This admittedly incorrect call resulted in a 64 million dollar swing in favor of the bookies.â€
Really? I thought the line was moved through the week in order to balance the ledger so the bookie was indifferent to outcome (so long as the game didn’t end up in the gap between the old and new lines, paying off everyone) and made his money on the vig.
Bookies try to set a line that both sides bet on but it’s never perfect.
Obviously the line of Pittsburgh -4 or -5 was too low and everyone pounded it.
I’m sure if that last play of the game was relevant to the outcome of the game then the refs would have taken a closer look. But it didn’t matter, everyone had run onto the field and there was no point reviewing it over and over again just to hold up the game.
The fact the the TD would have affected the gambling line and not the outcome of the game is irrelevant. NFL isn’t play for gamblers.