The conversation in another thread about baseball got me to thinking about the 7-7 tie in the All Star Game.
Since it’s a sports event, it was almost certainly bet on in places like Las Vegas and Atlantic city. What happened when the game ended in such an unexpected way? Was there even a way to bet on “tie” in that game? Do the casino’s keep the money? Refund the bets?
Well, ordinarily a tie is impossible in baseball, so they probably made no provision for that in Vegas.
Still, once the tie happened, bookies treated it as they would a “push” in football (when the favored team wins by the EXACT amount of the point spread) and gave the bettors a refund.
From USA Today, a few days after the game:
If you’re that much of a compulsive gambler that you bet the All-Star Game,
SEEK HELP!
What about people who bet the spread?
Say the line was AL -1.5, wouldn’t those who bet NL have won, since for betting purposes, the game was then 7-5.5?
Bookies don’t use point spreads in baseball. They set odds, but there’s no good reason to set a point spread, because there’s no such thing as an upset in one baseball game.
Bookie NEED point spreads in football, because the chances of the Houston Texans beating the Tampa Bay Bucs are so slim, NOBODY would bet on the Texans straight-up. Bookies HAVE to offer a point spread to encourage people to put money on the weaker team.
In baseball, bad teams not only CAN beat good teams, they regularly do. Over the long run, the better team will probably win 2/3 of the time, but in any given major league baseball game, either team can win.
Actually the offshore bookmakers have started to add runs spreads to their betting lines. It’s usually 1.5 either way.
But most people who bet baseball use the odds that are set.
The biggest favorite tonight I think is Philadelphia (with Kevin Millwood starting) at San Diego. The Phillies are -170 and the Padres are +160.
In the old days, bookies would use run spreads only in situations where there was a pitcher starting who was dominant and pitching against a poor team. Dwight Gooden sometimes got that treatment during his 1985 season.