Connor Allen, the director of business development and betting at Betsperts Group, had a series of bets only a meteorologist could love: unders on the longest field goals made in a quartet of windy NFL games Sunday.
In fact, after he tweeted out his bets placed at Caesars Sportsbook — singles, round robins, and a parlay — a meteorologist actually stepped up to show his love.
As the games played out, Allen was looking like a genius. Tampa-Buffalo, longest field goal was 39 yards. Cincy-Pittburgh? It was 48 yards, another winner. And while Allen would go on to lose a similar wager in the Ravens-Browns game, ruining the full parlay, he thought he had another winner in the Packers-Giants tilt to secure some round robin wins and a single wager.
Instead, it became a philosophical question: If no field goals are attempted, does the under cash?
In Caesars’ case, the answer is “no.”
Caesars determined that no field goals attempted (or made) equals bet voided. And here’s the rub: Nowhere in the Caesars house rules does it spell this out.
And when Allen pressed, he says he was basically told, “too bad, so sad.”
“The first two hit, and then I got a notice saying that the Green Bay–New York Giants game was voided,” he told InGame Monday morning. “And I was like, OK, well, that’s weird because they didn’t have a field goal that was longer than 49.5 yards, and the game was played.”
So he went back and double checked the rules. Nothing. Interestingly, DraftKings posts its rules — no field goals made, market voids — right in the betslip. Some other sportsbooks, such as bet365, paid out the exact same bet.
Reach out and touch someone
So Allen contacted Caesars support, and they reached out with a phone call.
“They said it was voided if there were no field goal attempts in the game,” he said. “And I essentially told them, ‘OK, well, that’s fine, if that’s your rules. But where are the rules?’”
And this is where the story veers into the atmosphere.
“I was told those are the rules, but they aren’t posted because ‘we have too many props to post all the rules,’” Allen said.
He challenged the person on the other end of the line, pointing out that if they list a prop, they should list the rules for said prop. No progress.
“I’m not looking for money here,” Allen said, resigned to the situation. “But I just generally don’t like how they handled this. They’re basically telling me these are the rules because I said so, and you can’t know why. That’s my biggest problem with it.”
InGame’s requests for comment from Caesars representatives were not returned as of publication time.
Not unilateral agreement
Interestingly, not everyone on X was aligned with Allen’s take of nothing equaling nothing equaling something.
“Hate to be on the bookie side but it literally says ‘Longest MADE Field Goal.’ There were no made field goals, so bet would be void,” wrote @DynamicRainbow6.
“It literally says longest MADE FG on your betslip. If no FG was made there is no action. You are wrong here. They made the correct decision,” noted @Lopaka30.
“I mean I get your position but if you bet the under on the longest field goal and a field goal didn’t happen, how would you be entitled to any winnings? A FG has to happen to know if you hit the under or not lol,” said @iConnor_P.
As it stands, Allen and his followers who tailed his bets don’t appear to be getting paid, despite — once again — the rules the public can see not specifying anything. In fact, as of Monday afternoon, nowhere in any of Caesars’ field goal market rules does it state an attempt needs to be made.
However, the book is very specific in some markets. For example, there’s “Will a Missed Kick Hit the Upright?” where a bettor is asked to “predict whether a missed field goal or extra point hits the upright.”
Beware, however, because “kicks hitting the crossbar no not count.”
