Packers vs. Seahawks: Sportsbook Refunds Gamblers Following Controversy

After the most recent Monday Night Football contest ended in an absolute travesty for a majority of the betting public, one sportsbook has decided to refund those that backed the Green Bay Packers in their straight up and against the spread loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

According to Glen McGregor of the Ottawa Citizen, Sportsbook.com has returned money to those who were—to borrow the ESPN announcers’ catchphrase from the end of Monday night’s game—“jobbed” by the referees.

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Such smart business: The refund notice from Sportsbook for last night's Packers officiating debacle.#NFL twitter.com/glen_mcgregor/…

— Glen McGregor (@glen_mcgregor) September 25, 2012"

Considering the Packers were 3.5-point favorites, the highly controversial no-time-remaining touchdown by Golden Tate forced the team to lose ATS and straight up.

UPDATE: Tuesday, Sept. 25 at 2:00 p.m. ET

It initially seemed that this refund was too good to be true, and that seems to be the case.

According to BeyondtheBets, a notable gambling resource and watchdog website, Sportsbook.com is only refunding European customers who backed the Packers on MNF.

Per BTB's write-up:

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A representative at Sportsbook.ag confirmed that Sportsbook Global serves European customers, and that the promotions for European and US-based customers are entirely different. In other words, if you’re a US-based customer who bet on the Packers, you aren’t entitled to the refund.

"

Considering that most NFL wagering takes place on American soil, the company will be returning money to a microscopic percentage of the total bettors on the game. 

While Sportsbook.com hasn't done anything illegal, they were intentionally misleading to a number of news outlets in the States and never clarified that the US customers were never entitled to a refund.

We'll keep you updated with more news, information and updates on this developing story right here as it breaks.

---END OF UPDATE---

Mike Perry, a spokesman for the offshore book, told Darren Rovell of ESPN that 70 to 80 percent of the action on his site was on Green Bay in the matchup. He estimated that, between all of the different sports books in the United States and abroad, $200-250 million was lost on the last play of the game.

Danny Sheridan, a notable oddsmaker, believes that figure to be even higher; telling Rovell that up to $1 billion may have been exchanged following the TD call.

While Perry didn’t specify how much his site would be returning to the losers on his website, they are obviously taking a calculated gamble.

Sportsbook.com has to believe that the positive public relations, free publicity and potential future earnings that comes from this refund will outweigh what they are electing to give back to their valuable customers.

It’s a smart move and should make those bettors, who suffered one of the worst gambling stomach-punches at the hands of the replacement officials, feel much better this morning.