Early grading...hmm?

[dogs24]

So last night I take TB to score UNDER 20.5 points for the entire game.

Needless to say, a big fat loser...in fact, as I'm sure most of you call, the game was a loser before halftime.

Nonetheless, I was surprised to see that the bet was actually GRADED as a loser at HALFTIME in my account history in a certain book. Even though they had indeed score 21 points by that point, I was surprised that they would grade a "full-game" prop before the full game had ended.

What made the grading even more odd is that upon looking at their official rules for NFL games, I noted that it said (as it does at several books) that NFL results are official only after 55 minutes!

Now, I don't know if football games ever end early (has a game ever been 'called' before 60 minutes have been played?), but I assume they must from time to time, or else this 55 minute rule would be moot. But if that's the case, then technically, the bet on TB to score less than 20.5 didn't lose until 55 minutes had been played, no? Technically, if the game had been called early because of a power failure, or earthquake, or other freakish reason, the bet would have pushed...or would it? Perhaps the 55 minute rule applies to sides and totals, but not to props on total points for a single team to score...and thus, if the game had been called before 55 mins, I still would've lost the bet. But on the other hand, I would assume that if the game were called before 55 minutes, and a bet on the under total scored by one team prop was winning at the time, it would NOT be graded as a win.

I don't know.

Or does it operate like baseball; where if a game is played over 5 but fewer than 9 innings, sides count but runlines and totals push...unless the game ends in a tie, in which case, everything pushes. (Maybe not player vs. player props?)

Anyone have any insight on this?

 

[Gagne38]

The book probably graded the game when it did just to give the winners their money to wager on the second half. If the game had been called do to a feakish accident before 55 minutes, then if according to the books rules, which most books have that rule for most props, they would just regrade the game and it would adjust everyone's accounts accordingly.

 

[IntuitionBET]

dogs24 - Please tell us which book this was.

 

[Java]

Dog-
Yeah, I've heard about this. Some believe this is a desirable feature to partially grade some wagers before the whole game has completed.

As Gagne indicates, it's one more way for the guys with nothing left in their accounts to get a little back early, so they can blow it on another bet.

Personally, I think this is a bad idea from a software and organizational standpoint. There are enough grading errors made, even after a game has been over for minutes (or hours). Trying to update partial scores is just begging for disaster. The chance of a clerk making a mistake is MUCH higher than a game actually going less than 55 minutes. The aggravation of adjusting the accounts is unlikely to be worth the potential games.

 

[dogs24]

AllWorld.

 

[RPM]

MY QUESTION WOULD BE... DID THEY PAY OUT THE WINNERS AT HALF TIME?

 

[dogs24]

Couldn't tell you...as I was, sadly, not among them.

But someone earlier in the thread suggested that they probably graded the bet specifically so that they COULD pay the winners out on time (hoping they'd lose it in the 2nd half)

 

[Gagne38]

Depending on the software it is not that big of a problem to regrade a game. I really do not think it is a big deal as long as the book makes sure they take care of any changes and if an NFL Monday night game does not go 55 minutes, I am sure they would go back and check everything graded involving that game.

 

[dogs24]

To go back and regrade wagers is bad practice, and potentially bad business too.

Imagine if someone was credited with a win, got paid at half time, placed that money on an overnight line for the next day, and then the book goes back and grades his MNF bet a loser.

What are they supposed to do with his overnite bet for the next day?

 

[Gagne38]

Well if they graded your bet a loser if someone had the over then it would have been credited a winner to that persons account. I am sure they would not let you withdraw your money until after the game was official, but if you wanted to bet on something else they would definitley allow it. I really do not see why this would be an issue.

 

[Gagne38]

Very simple, They would honor the bet and if it happened to put the customers account negative they would take the loss.

 

[Java]

Gagne-
My point is that it can lead to "operator overload" in which the clerks have too much to keep track of and make more mistakes. The software would need to present this "partial" or "early" grading in a VERY clear way to make it difficult for the clerks to make a mistake. Part of the problem is that what is clear to one clerk, may be confusing to another.

I've seen clerks that can't figure out the second half score from the first half and final. I've seen them mix up the first half and second half scores. This is one of those booby traps waiting for the wrong clerk to blow it up.

 

[Gagne38]

I agree, but for the amount of times a football game is cancelled before it is official(I can remember 2-this preseason and UNLV last year) it is not a real big deal. I mean you are looking at a 1 1/2 hour window before the game would be regraded so like I said I think it is not a big deal.

 

[Java]

Gagne-
I'm not talking about canceled games. I was the software programmer for a book for over 4 years. Last year (before I left), I started monitoring misgrades by the clerks. Hardly a day went by without a misgrade (though many were corrected within 10-minutes to 1-hour). The book tended to rely on the customers calling as their alarm system. For games/props with only one or a few plays, misgrades were not always detected.

Eventually, I worked out a report where the names of the clerks that made misgrades were listed each night. The report was available to the clerks too, so they didn't want to see their names on the reports and it made them a little more careful.

People are going to make mistakes. There is a programming philosophy (to which I ascribe) that suggests you limit the number of unnecessary choices/options to reduce the number of possible mistakes. Early grading strikes me as one of those "gee whiz" features that is most likely to bite you in the ass.

 

[Gagne38]

I agree with you 100 %, but I would hope the book would not just have any old clerk putting in scores. Scores should be put in by someone that knows what they are doing, like a manager. I would never have a clerk put in a score, that is absurd.