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Forget the fact that Christina Aguilera botched the lyrics of the National Anthem during Sunday’s Super Bowl, it turns out that the real controversy at a few dozen online gambling websites involves oddsmakers ability to be right on the mark.
The problem: They posted a line that fell midway between conflicting data on the length of Aguilera’s rendition.
According to Michael Perry, a spokesperson for Sportsbook.com, “We recorded 2 different broadcasts of the Super Bowl and after replaying them, we found out that one took 1:53, and the other 1:54. Then we went to Youtube.com and found another version that was 1:56. Sure, we put up these propositions to try and make money, but we also want to make the bettor’s experience as pleasant as possible. That being said, we thought it was in everyone’s best interest if we paid BOTH sides as winners.”
For the first time in Sportsbook.com’s nearly 15 years online, that company has decided to pay out on both sides of the National Anthem bet. Others have paid out on either the OVER or UNDER depending on which number they decided to apply.
Gambling911.com readers at least can be gratified as most of those betting this particular prop were directed to the Sportsbook.com website, which was featured exclusively on what is now the most trafficked article so far in 2011.
“The positive press Sportsbook.com is getting will pay off any of the monies lost having to pay both sides of this bet,” says Payton O’Brien, Senior Editor of the Gambling911.com website, who was quoted yesterday on the Fox Sports site.
Apparently, Sportsbook.com was rooting for Aguilera to go under. Pierce concluded that “Just over 75% of action on the Christina Aguilera prop was betting on over 1:54, despite the fact that she had never gone over that number in seven different recordings available on the internet.”
- Jordan Bach, Gambling911.com
