Andrews explains temporary Game 6 money line anomaly at South Point
Jeff Fogle
VSiN.com
November 1, 2017 02:37 PM
For several minutes during game-day betting in advance of Game 6 of the World Series Tuesday, there was a temporary money line anomaly at the South Point sportsbook showing the Los Angeles Dodgers favored in the vicinity of -140 to -150, while the Houston Astros’ underdog return was plus 115.
South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews tells VSiN that a bettor was placing large bets at 7-cent intervals in the process of making a large overall investment in the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the game. The process was agreed to by the bettor, who understood that sports books have limits on bet sizes before they lift prices and allow another large bet.
At the same time, a line move up to Houston 115 had attracted aggressive sharp betting on the app and at the counters on the Astros. That was an apparent trigger point for bettors wanting to invest in the underdog and highly regarded pitcher Justin Verlander. The South Point was flooded, in terms of real dollars, simultaneously on both sides of the game at those prices.
Andrews said:
"As a bookmaker, it's my job to put my employer in the best position. If we temporarily have one person making big bets on the favorite at 7-cent intervals on one counter, but several sharps on our app or at a different counter coming in hard on the underdog at 115, I'm going to finish serving the big bettors requests as responsibly as I can, then re-position my lines once the dust has settled.
"We were back to a 10-cent split very soon after everything had calmed down. A matter of minutes.
"In essence, during a flood of big bets…on a day that shattered the record for the largest one-game baseball handle…we were serving a customer while taking care of customers on the other side. We weren't forcing lines on anybody. All of the bettors on BOTH sides were satisfied with the lines they were getting at that moment, or they wouldn't have been placing those bets."
The South Point was only one of the books that took big bets from this particular bettor on the Dodgers on Game 6.
Based on what sources told VSiN senior editor Matt Youmans, here was the breakdown of roughly $3.1M: MGM $1M; CG Tech $600,000; Wynn $600,000; William Hill $500,000; South Point $350,000; Westgate $50,000.
One prominent Las Vegas sports book director called reports of a much higher bet ``fake news.’’
``Those I spoke to around town say the numbers are very, very inflated,’’ said the director, who requested anonymity. ``I do know he’s (the bettor) is undefeated, but the numbers aren’t close to what is out there.’’