Seems like that penalty missed by the referees at the end of the Saints Rams NFC Championship game has become the “no-call” heard round the world. Or at least the gambling world...after a sportsbook in New Jersey said it was refunding bets on the New Orleans Saints due to the widespread belief that the team was victimized by a blown call.
PointsBet said yesterday that it will refund spread and money-line bets on the Saints, who lost the game after officials failed to call a penalty on a Los Angeles Rams defender who leveled a New Orleans receiver long before the ball arrived—a call that even the player who committed it admitted after the game. PointsBet did not say how much the refunds will cost the company. The move is the latest attention-grabbing payout by a New Jersey sports betting operator as numerous firms vie for market share and attention in the fast-growing market.
There IS an argument to be made that the blown call did NOT cost the Saints the game, but rather throwing an incomplete pass and stopping the clock rather than running off an extra 40 seconds is what REALLY cost them the game. This is really just a BUSINESS move on the part of the gambling industry. There will be OTHERS offering refunds, soon...trust me. They just want these customers to come back. If you think about it, blown calls are a part of EVERY game...they can change momentum, changing outcomes...so you're really betting on that. Maybe you should have factored in a blown call before you placed your bet. But the story doesn't stop there...
The NFL may soon be adding more replays. Yep...they're considering making pass interference calls review-able with instant replay. The NFL has been using a replay system since 1999 but has refused to allow subjective penalties such as pass interference to be reviewed. A league source now says this year could be different. "It will be discussed at length along with additional fouls that coaches feel should be subject to review," the source said. If the rule change is approved, the league will need to make one more. They will have to start timing games with a calendar.