GW,
How the hell R U?
First, NO book is going to honor a changed score.
Payoffs are final.
Second, for the Vegas conspiracy theorists, a true story:
I was behind the counter at the sportsbook one night, watching the final minutes of a game and waiting to watch over payouts, when Giants HC Jim Fassel had his QB run a few plays rather than pass, while deep in enemy territory, to use up the clock and end the game.
A tourist came up to the counter, screaming, saying that we called the coach and told him to not run any more plays so he would lose his bet on the Over.
I'm not kidding, I'm not making this up.
This guy was real, or unreal if you would, he meant it, he believed it.
Security came over, I said, "Let me handle this."
I said to Joe Tourist,
"Let me see if I have this right - you think that:
A - I have coach Fassels cell phone number
B - I called him
C - He answered it, IN THE MIDDLE OF A GAME, IN FRONT OF THOUSANDS OF FANS AND PEOPLE WATCHING ON TV
D - I told him what to do
and . . .
C - HE LISTENED TO ME??!!
All because YOU have a couple thousand on a game?"
The guy was ballistic, not to mention mental, and security removed him.
Are games fixed?
Of course.
And anyone who thinks it's just the college game (although the biggest crooks are in NCAA hoops where the nature and variety of games allows them to more easily remain undiscovered) can write to Tim Donaghy and ask him - care of Club Fed, Florida Chapter.
It's not the ones we know of that I wonder about, the ones proven in court, it's the ones we don't know about.
Are all, or most games fixed? No.
But what is the ratio of known ones vs unknown?
I don't know. But it is naive to think the only ones it happened in are the ones where players, refs, or time keepers (remember the NBA guy who got caught holding back on the clock so he could hit his Over bets?) actually got caught and convicted.
And there have been enough of those to kill the "sports aren't fixed" argument.
But don't buy into "Vegas did it" or the ignorance of clowns who state in their columns "the Pitt/SD game saved bookmakers 32 million" because no one has those numbers, and that's not what this was about.
It's not about a city, or a business, it's about a couple of little guys in striped shirts.
The amount of money exchanging hands on games is mind-boggling, and the variety of ways to do so leaves anonymity almost guaranteed. And when the economy is troubled, as it is today, all forms of gambling see revenue spikes. Same as it ever was: the policy racket soared during the Depression.
"Vegas" did not get on the phone yesterday and tell the refs "Hey, screw Pittsburgh for us today, we need SD" any more than I got on the phone and called Fassel that day.
It doesn't work like that, that's not what happened.
Bookmakers win, and take losses. The losses don't come out of their pocket, and it is an expected part of the job. And books are a VERY small % the houses P and L anyway.
No in-season football game makes that big a difference, and even the Super Bowl is still a small piece of the overall picture, one that involves slots, craps, cards, hotel rooms, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.
"Vegas" is not one huge conglomerate, with one single purpose or outcome desired on any one game.
Not every house, needs the same team, every game.
"Vegas" does not get on the phone and call anybody.
EVERY betting scandal, every conviction that has ever resulted from them, has been individuals in small groups.
And sometimes, they wear striped shirts to work . . .
