Sports books around the country are crediting or refunding point spread and money line bets placed on the Saints. Why? A “no call” for pass interference against the Rams in the final two minutes of regulation play that cost the Saints a trip to the Super Bowl.
When Las Vegas and other sports books start refunding money to public bettors that says a lot about how stinky the “no call” appears in the Saints loss to the Rams. By refunding money, sports books are effectively anointing the Saints NFC champions. The NFL has been put on notice by this move as well. I’ve never seen a sports book refund money based on an official’s call or no call.
Sportsbooks are calling out the NFL for identifying the Rams as conference champions based on a poor decision by one of the league’s officials. The NFL sits in silence waiting and hoping this will pass. No real statement from the commissioner on the blown call. No press conference. NOTHING!
The sports books are refunding money, and the fans are starting to call the league suspicious, if not corrupt and fixed. That’s a hard image to shake once it’s cast upon you. All we have so far is an apology from the league’s head of officials. The apology comes with no consequence for league officials or particular members of the crew that were assigned to this game. How can that be? Who owns the mistake? What is the consequence for blatant incompetence by officials…neglect that clearly had an impact on the outcome of the game? There isn’t a consequence. The league is simply moving on.
The NFL’s biggest issue is not CTE or players kneeling for the National Anthem or even domestic violence cases. (And, yes, they do matter immensely.) The BIGGEST threat to the NFL long term is trust…officiating. This is by far the worst call or no call in sports history. Some are going to roll their eyes reading that, but here is why you should care even if you don’t pull for the Saints. It can and might happen to your team next game…next year, if the league doesn’t fix their officiating woes this off-season.
This move by sportsbooks is a vote of no confidence, reflecting the feelings of many football fans across the country. The time to address this is now.