Bad Line Errors: Will there be a book who says, "If you bet it, its action!"

[Bill Dozer]

I am EAGERLY waiting for a book to erase the words "Bad Line" from their rules and say, "If you buy the bet, it's live". But, I think I will have to keep waiting since technology may be far from alleviating that type of liability to the book.

Actually, with the lines moving faster than ever, coming out earlier and being offered on more events, it may get worse before it gets better!

Each "bad line" dispute has its own set of circumstances. It is almost impossible to apply a set of hard rules for the book to follow. BUT, I do think there are some obvious guidelines that we could put together. This has been on my to-do list for quite a while and I'd like to use the forum to toss around some opinions on what is fair to both the book and player and what isn't.

I'll start with an email we received yesterday:

Hi Bill,
I am wondering about bad lines. Do sportsbooks have a time limit to cancel a wager due to a bad line? What is stopping them from waiting until the bet is settled in order to determine that a line is bad?
Regards,
**** ******

What would you guys tell this new player??

[pags11]

yeah, books seem to have a lot of discretion when using this term "bad line"...kind of scary for us players...

[SBR_John]

Hi Bill,
I am wondering about bad lines. Do sportsbooks have a time limit to cancel a wager due to a bad line? What is stopping them from waiting until the bet is settled in order to determine that a line is bad?
Regards,
**** ******

There is no time limit. If it goes more than a few days I would say you are home free. They find out about these because someone who got the bad line complains. If you bet a bad line and the book did not even notice you should probably look for a new book.

[natrass]

Personally, with the number of lines etc that books offer we can appreciate errors will be made.

But I think there are two fundamental expectations the player has a right to :

1. The book should never profit in any circumstances. It is responsible for the error and must seek to minimse the upset to the player.
2. The book loses the right to void bets once the play has been decided (which may be long before the end of the game)

I would further seek to differentaite between 'marginal' errors and 'clear' errors. Marginal errors should be paid up by the book. 'Clear' errors are open to the palpable error rule.

I would also make major events non changeable. Its one thing to have a bad line in a Ukranian Third Division Reserves match but not in a major event.

Personally, I think if a player past posts to a significant sum then this is different and the book has the right to be displeased.

[Santo]

If a book is off by 10-20c in a major event I agree, in the case that a clerk enters a ML incorrectly (-400/+360) instead of (+360/-400) then I can understand voiding (clear error), but if they entered (+400/-360) it's a bit more risky, seeing as the lines are only marginally off market, even though they're scalpable..

[Brick Tamland]

Personally, with the number of lines etc that books offer we can appreciate errors will be made.

But I think there are two fundamental expectations the player has a right to :

1. The book should never profit in any circumstances. It is responsible for the error and must seek to minimse the upset to the player.
2. The book loses the right to void bets once the play has been decided (which may be long before the end of the game)

I would further seek to differentaite between 'marginal' errors and 'clear' errors. Marginal errors should be paid up by the book. 'Clear' errors are open to the palpable error rule.

I would also make major events non changeable. Its one thing to have a bad line in a Ukranian Third Division Reserves match but not in a major event.

Personally, I think if a player past posts to a significant sum then this is different and the book has the right to be displeased.

What if a sportsbook has Yankes +10000 instead of +1000 to win it? I think the player should get the choice if wants 1000 or gets to cancel it.

[TheGuesser]

AFAIK, Cascade has always had the book it, pay it, policy.

[marc]

As theguesser said, Cascade doens't void wagers. Of course they too have problems when shot takers, (like someone from Boston that some of us know), take a shot and then complain thet the wager should be voided.

[LGBoots]

Obvious answer to all this (IMO) Is that if a book claims a bad line on a bet instead of voiding it they payout at the best odds that were available pre-match among the other books.

This should not be too hard to implement now we have all line odds available free to all(Thanks SBR ).

Using this idea should eliminate most bad line complaints.

Would only work on moneyline or spreads the more 'exotic' bets could be more tricky

[d2bets]

Bad lines are like pornography -- I know it when I see it.

A few notes on bad lines:
1. The test should be an objective reasonable person test. A line cannot be bad for one player but not for another.
2. The book needs to demonstrate not only that the line is a bad line, but also that once discovered they took reasonable steps to correct the error/cancel the bet timely.
3. I like to think fo a bad line more in terms of a scrivener's error. That is, it's a cancellable bad line if the line is off because of a computer entering/clerical error. (+5 instead of -5, +200 instead of 200). A bad line is NOT just a poorly made decision by the book on a line to post. It shouldn;t be used to alleviate poor bookmaking.

[CrazyHorse]

d2bets... what law firm do you work for?

[SBR_John]

A bad line is NOT just a poorly made decision by the book on a line to post. It shouldn;t be used to alleviate

That was actually more prevelant in the early offshore days. We would see books hang a MNF that was painted -2 they would hang -4 and if the score was lopsided in the 3rd quarter they would void all bets.

I'm glad to say this scam is rare to see these days.