Draymond Green’s desire to join Klay Thompson in his return to the court against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Jan. 9 in San Francisco caused a major wave in the sports betting scandals world. Green was in the starting lineup, even though he was going to be unable to play due to injury. Typically when NFL odds are calculated, any player who suits up and takes the playing surface is eligible for prop bets.
The news didn’t break until Golden State Tweeted the news close to tip-off. Bettors who were paying attention to the lines, we’re able to play Green under before the numbers were taken off the mark. Sportsbooks were stuck in a quandary.
People who had bet the lines earlier in the day were unaware of what would happen, but since Green played a minute it meant all bets were action. Many books decided to pay out the bets, but it is possible in the future the house rules may change to reflect such events. Sports betting is no stranger to scandals.
Covered Topics
Courtsiding is Kind of Like Card-Counting
Fans at home are unlikely to gain a split-second edge in live betting because of the delays in live stats, radio feeds and television broadcasts. However, if you are at an event, you are likely going to be ahead of the betting apps. With courtsiding, it is most prominent with a sport like a tennis.
Many sportsbooks offer live betting and with tennis, there is an option to bet point-by-point. What happens with courtsiding is after a point is won, the result of the point has been transmitted to sports data companies and the sportsbook. What bettors can try to do is watch the point and get a bet in before the data is registered.
It can also help a bettor get improved odds on players to win a game since they would know the score of the game before the sportsbook data gets updated. If someone scores a point to go up 30-15, but the book still has the score tied at 15-15, there is an edge to the bettor. There is nothing illegal about courtsiding, but the practice is frowned upon.
If sportsbooks notice a pattern with betting on points with tennis matches, you can be banned from wagering at those sportsbooks. Stadiums can also remove people who they believe are betting on each point.
Past-Posting
Past-posting was made most famous by the Paul Newman movie “The Sting”, which was released in 1973. In these cases, bettors make a bet after the time when no more bets are supposed to be taken. There are stringent rules about this in horse racing, but when it comes to sportsbooks, live odds make it more difficult to nail things down.
With live sportsbooks, it is possible someone could come along and place a bet on a kiosk with a game that has already started and not know it. However, it is likely in these situations that there are some savvy bettors who will try to make a buck.
A sportsbook in Nevada nearly lost $250,000 on a Korean and Chinese baseball parlay. Incorrect start times were posted on games that were accepted up to two hours after they began. There were 50 or so bets that were put in on these games, which still had their pregame odds on the kiosk due to an error. The biggest win would have been a $250 ten-team parlay that would have paid out over $130,000. However, due to the nature of the event, the Nevada Gaming Board voided the bets.
Arbitrage Betting
Getting a free bonus from the casino is great, right? However, there are often strings attached. What players could do is bet on both sides of a game to burn through the promotional requirement faster. However, riskless betting strategies are frowned upon by the casino. While the player still can lose with arbitrage betting, it limits their losses and allows them to reach bonus funds more quickly and make the player more likely to keep the money.
