South Alabama blowout leads to voided bets, unusual settlements

Doug Greenberg, ESPN

South Alabama crushed Northwestern State 87-10 on Thursday night, with the Jaguars setting a school scoring record. The onslaught was so bad that the coaches of both teams agreed to shorten the fourth quarter by six minutes, resulting in only 54 minutes of play.

This ended up being key for the sports betting results. College football sportsbook house rules usually require 55 minutes of play for most action to be considered valid, though there is leeway for interpretation.

DraftKings’ house rules state, “There must be 5 minutes or less of scheduled game time left for bets to have action unless the specific market outcome is already unconditionally determined.” The last part is crucial, as over and under bets on the total (in this case set at 59.5, per ESPN BET odds) can be deemed “unconditional” — in other words, they would have hit regardless of anything that could have happened in the final minutes of the game.

As a result, DraftKings graded overs and unders as winners and losers, respectively. BetMGM confirmed that it settled total bets in the same manner. Caesars, ESPN BET and FanDuel did not immediately respond to inquiries for this story.

For the point spread (set at South Alabama -36.5), DraftKings graded all bets as void in accordance with its rules. However, the book said it is awarding cash payouts Friday for any wagers on USA’s full-game and second-half spreads as if they were winners. First-half and third-quarter wagers stand as is.

BetMGM voided all full-game wagers on Northwestern State, in accordance with house rules, but graded South Alabama bets as winners, calling the final score an “official result” as “declared by the official governing body,” per the book’s house rules.

Rest is here…