As bettors, we’re looking for every possible advantage to win a bet. Last weekend, a few Las Vegas bettors exploited a huge mistake made by BetMGM, which allowed them to bet on baseball games that had already started. In total, the gaffe cost the operator about $250,000 – which included a 10-leg parlay netting $137,000.
The Nevada Gaming Commission, however, will now be launching an investigation that could make these wagers invalid. If found in favor, the sportsbook would be off the hook for all of the money that could be owed to these bettors.
As of now, it is not known how many people were involved – and how bettors were able to get their tickets cashed before casino officials realized the mistake. All four KBO games in question began at 1 am and concluded around 4 am PST. The suspicious wagers took place somewhere in between 1:30 am and 3 am and were all placed in the international KBO and Chinese Professional League.
That night, the games actually began at 1 to 2 am, but the MGM software posted incorrect start times due to a manual entry error. With that mistake, the software was able to accept wagers well after the games began.
“A trading error was identified this weekend and addressed. We’re working with Nevada Gaming authorities on this matter,” according to a ROAR Digital statement provided to ESPN. ROAR manages BetMGM and is the joint partnership between GVC and all MGM properties, including Bellagio. GVC is a sportsbook operator that has partnered with several U.S. casinos.
Nevada Gaming Control Board senior research analyst Mike Lawton was understandably in a tough position. ESPN sent a request for comment to Lawton, to which he answered, “The Nevada Gaming Control Board does not have any comment.”
Hard To Rescind
According to Regulation 22.115, Nevada Gaming has a “prohibition against rescission of wagers. A book may not unilaterally rescind any wager without the prior written approval of the Chair.”
The current chairwoman is Sandra Douglass Morgan, who was appointed in January of 2019 by Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak for a four-year term.
The action of these bettors, though, raises some questions of whether ethics could have been acknowledged and not instead use for personal gain.
KBO Games
In the fiasco, there were quite a few tickets in favor of the NC Dinos -110 and under-nine total runs in the game against the Doosan Bears. The game was scoreless going into the fifth inning before a three-run homer broke the scoring – the Dinos would go on to win 5-0, making either betting proposition a favorable one.
There was also another favorable position in the KT Wiz Suwon-Hanwha Eagles game with a 9.5-run total that night. The Suwon opened up the game with a five-run first inning while the Eagles came back with two runs in the second inning.
Needless to say, the over was an excellent play at that point, and the 8-4 final score made those bettors happy for the moment.
Because of how many bets are placed each year, this kind of manual error is prone to happen sometimes, though, these mistakes tend to happen on a much smaller scale. This time, however, there was nothing of that sort.
I don’t know about you guys, but I sure as hell wish someone would’ve woke me up in the middle of the night to tell me about this. After all, it has been a tough quarantine and a lack of American sports to boot.
Perhaps, this story could have a fairy-tale ending where both sides would have some sort of satisfaction in the final outcome.