Bovada settled a forfeit as a loss

[tonywayne]

Curious if anyone has any advice how to handle this:

I had a 2u bet on Celtic -1 vs Legia this past Wednesday. The match finished 0-2, which would be a loss, but the UEFA disqualified Legia for fielding an ineligible player. That thus awarded a 3-0 win to Celtic, per UEFA rules.

Bovada initially settled my bet as a loss, per the 0-2 finish. Then they re-settled the bet as a win, per the 3-0 result. Today I saw that they re-re-settled the bet as a loss again.

When I inquired, their first reply was "we re-settled the bet due to the 4-4 aggregate total and your -1 spread bet was a loss". When I replied and pointed out that my bet was on the 2nd leg only (and very clearly so), they changed their justification to "our rules state a match is official with 40 minutes of play recorded, thus the 0-2 result is what we're using to grade bets".

The problem, of course, is that the 0-2 on-field result was vacated and thus not official. The official result is a 3-0 Celtic win.

My request of Bovada is that they simply settle the bet as "no action" and refund the initial stake. I'm not interested in debating the merits of a league-mandated 3-0 win and whether or not a spread bet qualifies in that situation.

Does anyone know where to go from here, with Bovada currently stating they get to use the 0-2 on-field vacated result?

[Spedizzo]

you were gonna lose it

just accept it on and move on

Bovada is an A+ world class book

only the best play there

[SBR Forum]

Thanks for sharing. If there isn't a rule addressing overturned games then we would agree with your claim, and will look into it.

Please feel free to submit your Bovada ID to mail@sportsbookreview.com and we can inquire on your behalf.

[Crassus]

They did grade it as a win for a while which removes the logic behind the above post. Seems unreasonable on this end, only due to them grading it a win for a period of time.

[scottgodson1985]

bet at bovada, and u gotta know they are gonna fuc$ you.

[daringly]

They did grade it as a win for a while which removes the logic behind the above post. Seems unreasonable on this end, only due to them grading it a win for a period of time.

Most books have a rule stating that in a situation like yours, the score from before the adjustment is used for grading. Bovada does not seem to have this rule on its homepage: http://www.bovada.lv/help/general-sports-betting-rules

I looked in general sports, as well as soccer. If this bet were placed at Pinnacle or Cris, which have rules addressing this point, your wager would be a clear loser. You have argument though. As a result of the disqualification, the full match score is changed to 3-0. Their soccer rules are here: http://www.bovada.lv/help/soccer. One of them states "4. Unless otherwise specified, the score at the end of regulation play (90 minutes plus injury time) will be used for wagering purposes. Results from extra time, golden goals, or penalty shootouts are not included."

Unless I missed a rule, an overturned result changed the 90-minute result, and the wager should win by Bovada's rules. I'd also note that Bovada's rules -- omitting a clause on disqualifications -- is not the industry standard. By their own rules, matches deemed a forfeit years ago due to NCAA violations would have to be regraded, which is why nearly every book has a rule addressing this issue. But they wrote the rules, and they are an A-rated book. They need to abide by their rules, grade your wager as a winner, and fix their rules going forward.

[Crassus]

Most books have a rule stating that in a situation like yours, the score from before the adjustment is used for grading. Bovada does not seem to have this rule on its homepage: http://www.bovada.lv/help/general-sports-betting-rules

I looked in general sports, as well as soccer. If this bet were placed at Pinnacle or Cris, which have rules addressing this point, your wager would be a clear loser. You have argument though. As a result of the disqualification, the full match score is changed to 3-0. Their soccer rules are here: http://www.bovada.lv/help/soccer. One of them states "4. Unless otherwise specified, the score at the end of regulation play (90 minutes plus injury time) will be used for wagering purposes. Results from extra time, golden goals, or penalty shootouts are not included."

Unless I missed a rule, an overturned result changed the 90-minute result, and the wager should win by Bovada's rules. I'd also note that Bovada's rules -- omitting a clause on disqualifications -- is not the industry standard. By their own rules, matches deemed a forfeit years ago due to NCAA violations would have to be regraded, which is why nearly every book has a rule addressing this issue. But they wrote the rules, and they are an A-rated book. They need to abide by their rules, grade your wager as a winner, and fix their rules going forward.

Interesting. I think the issue is they first graded it a loss (as normal, not surprising) but after that they put money in the guys account grading it a win (unusual but hey cool) they then changed their minds and took it back. That to me screams B.S., you can't just flip-flop around like that. If they had just graded it a loss I'd say the OP was crying over nothing but the fact that they graded, regraded, and then re-regraded is just wildly unreasonable.

[daringly]

Interesting. I think the issue is they first graded it a loss (as normal, not surprising) but after that they put money in the guys account grading it a win (unusual but hey cool) they then changed their minds and took it back. That to me screams B.S., you can't just flip-flop around like that. If they had just graded it a loss I'd say the OP was crying over nothing but the fact that they graded, regraded, and then re-regraded is just wildly unreasonable.

The initial grading is irrelevant. Books make mistakes all the time, and correct them. The only issue is: what is the correct way to grade this wager? A correct (or incorrect) grading has no bearing on that issue.

[Spedizzo]

at the very least this should be a no bet

[mtneer1212]

If Bovada was smart, they would refund this bet, and call it no action. They couldn't have had much action on this game.

[tonywayne]

Thanks for weighing in on this, everyone.

Yes, for me the biggest issue was Bovada settling the bet more than once, including grading it as a win and putting the money in my account, then changing their mind and taking the money back. Clearly even they thought the result changed in a substantial enough way as to regrade it in the first place.

After much wrangling, Bovada decided to give me a promotional credit (subject to rollover). They still maintain they get to use the vacated result to grade the wagers in that game.

Regarding yesteryear forfeits (ie NCAA sanctions), I can totally understand why books need to protect themselves with rules about "overturned results". Perhaps they simply need to have a time period within the rule - maybe its enough to say "forfeits within 7 days of the end of a game/match will be honored" (or some number of days). Certainly a result that is overturned within 24 hours should not be something a sportsbook can just unilaterally decide to ignore.

[Optional]

Wasn't this change of result announced 3 days later?

[daringly]

Wasn't this change of result announced 3 days later?

How would that be relevant, if Bovada has no rule addressing the timeliness of reversed decisions?

[Optional]

How would that be relevant, if Bovada has no rule addressing the timeliness of reversed decisions?

The poster above me specifically mentioned it happened within 24 hours.

If it did, that makes a difference to a couple of people on the other side of this bet who were hoping for a re-grade. But as you explained above, most other books have a 24 hour time limit on result changes, and/or outright say after match penalties are not recognized.

[jaytee20]

Bovada is only "smart" about figuring out a way to cheat you.