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Sportsbooks in Nevada to Issue Refunds for Some NHL Bets
By Jeff Osienya Jun 01, 2020 IndustryNow that the regular NHL season was called off and a new playoff format announced, sportsbooks will have to give point-totals bettors their money back. Not all bettors will however benefit from the refunds.Before the Coronavirus pandemic swooped in to crush the sports industry in the United States, the regular NHL season was well underway. After the NHL season was officially suspended on 12th March, players were pulled off the ice by the league with three and a half weeks of the season pending. Out of the total 1,271 games that are annually played in the heated run for the season’s Stanley Cup, only 189 games remained.
Last Tuesday, Gary Bettman, the NHL Commissioner finally announced the cancellation of the regular season and declared changes that moved the games straight into a modified playoff system. The new format will comprise of 24 teams that will take part in Seeding Round Robins then face off in a Qualifying Round, and finally a Stanley Cup Playoff based on the league’s Eastern and Western Conferences.
The NHL management came to this decision because it never wanted to resort to changes that would significantly affect the schedules of future seasons. So, as drastic as the playoff system is, the new playoff arrangement means that the next season is still on track even though the current season had stalled for 80 days.
The Nevada Sportsbooks Predicament
While future NHL seasons will stay unaffected, sportsbooks in Nevada are now in a conundrum because they had all taken in a ton of wagers that were staked on the standard season, which is now nullified. Based on the standing house rules, there is a range of NHL wagers that are considered valid only when the season sees each team play the usual 81 or 82 games. Now that the NHL has abandoned the regular season and switched to a modified playoff schedule, players who wagered on point totals of teams are supposed to receive refunds.
When the new playoff system was announced, all Nevada sportsbooks indicated that they would issue refunds for all bets staked on point totals for the regular season after they were contacted by a local newsroom about the matter. Thus, because of the house rules, Las Vegas sportsbooks such as Golden Nugget, MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, South Point, Circa Sports, William Hill, and Westgate, are all going to reimburse the money staked by players.
Not All NHL Gamblers Will be Happy with the Refunds
A lot of players who were on the verge of making losses from their point total wagers will get lucky because they will get their money back. The refunds from sportsbooks won’t however make everyone happy because things were about to get remarkably lucrative for some bettors had the season continued as usual.
For instance, players who had paced point total wagers in favor of the Vegas Golden Knights had been rubbing their hands as they eagerly anticipated a hefty payday. The Golden Nights team was standing on 86 points before the season ended abruptly. The team still had a chance of reaching its mark as it only required 17 more points to top its point total of 102.5, with 11 more season games pending.
But then again, while the Nevada sportsbooks agreed that they would issue refunds, some of the operators are still holding on to their money for a little longer. Caesars Entertainment, for example, plans to hang onto the money before grading the division wagers until division winners are announced by the NHL.
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