A Foul Called with 0.7 Seconds Left Made All the Difference in the Bet’s Outcome
A trash-time free throw with 0.7 seconds remaining in the NCAA Tournament contest between Duke and Utah cost Las Vegas sportsbooks a million dollars on Friday. The foul call which led to the free throws was made only after officials looked at replays of the final play. Utah players had begun their walk off the court, while Duke players had begun their celebration. Then the refs took a look at the video monitor and put 0.7 seconds on the clock.
The subsequent foul shots were taken by guard Quinn Cook, who missed the first shot and made the second one. That pushed the Blue Devils’ lead to its final 6-point difference, at 63-57. Most Las Vegas sportsbooks had made the Duke Blue Devils a 5-point favorite over the Utah Utes, making for a massive difference in the point spread.
Milion-Dollar Swing
Jay Rood, Vice President of Race & Sports for MGM Grand, told ESPN, “It caused a million-dollar swing with parlay liability, to the bad.”
Duke is a perennial contender, so the public tends to bet on the Blue Devils. With only two hours remaining before the game started, 77% of the money and 82% of all bets had been made on Duke, at least at the William Hill sportsbook. The UK bookmaker was not an outlier, as other books reported similar betting activity.
William Hill and CG Technology
Nick Bogdanovich, William Hill’s Director of Trading, said his company lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on the night. When asked to name a dollar figure, Bogdanovich said, “Huge, six figures. Public had a very good day.” CG Technology, which runs its own Las Vegas sportsbook, also reported a swing somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000 on the final free throw.
John Avello, Executive of Wynn Race & Sportsbook, has seen everything in his 20+ years as a Las Vegas bookmaker. Though it was a wild ending, Avello said he has grown accustomed to the swings in fortune. He said, “It’s crazy when it happens, but this is like a common occurrence to me now. Whether it’s being on the 1-yard line at the Super Bowl or this, it happens so many times, that I’m kind of hardened to it.”
Favorites Won All Four Games
On the night, all four favorites won their games. Because the public tends to wager on the favorites, it became a great night for the gamblers and a bad night for the casinos.
Michigan State won 62-58 over Oklahoma, which cost the Westgate Casino a huge amount, due to the amount wagered being 4-to-1 in favor of the Spartans. Gonzaga covered the spread with a 12-point drubbing of UCLA, while Louisville covered its spread with a 75-65 defeat of North Carolina State.
Last Week’s Record-Setting Day
Readers should not be too upset for the Las Vegas sportsbooks, though. Last week, Las Vegas had its single-biggest day ever on the first full day of March Madness. Twelve of the sixteen favorites failed to cover, giving the sportsbooks millions in profits.
The play which caused the swing in betting happened after Quinn Cook rebounded a miss by Jordan Leveridge with 10 seconds left in the game and Duke holding a 5-point advantage. As time was running out, the Utes tried to force a jump ball situation on the Blue Devils.
How It Happened
It looked like that attempt would be unsuccessful and the horn sounded. At the same time the horn went off, the referees whistled a foul on Brandon Taylor. With the game a 5-point difference, most gamblers would have thought they had a push. Instead, the referees added time onto the clock.
Bettors must have been on the edge of their seats after Quinn Cook missed the first free throw, after gamblers received a chance to win their bets. Then Cook sank the final free throw, providing players with a nice windfall.
