Sports

Steelers-Chargers Game Ends in Controversial Call That Costs Gamblers $32 Million

by Jon Azpiri | November 17, 2008 at 10:38 am

2599 views | 2 Recommendations | 4 comments

The ending of Sunday's Pittsburgh Steelers-San Diego Chargers game ended with a controversial call that reversed a Steelers touchdown. The negated touchdown didn't affect who won the outcome since the Steelers still won by a score of 11-10. But it did affect the point spread and may have cost those who bet on the Steelers a total of $32 million.

In the dying seconds of the game, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu intercepted a Chargers pass and ran it in for a touchdown, making the score 17-10. The referees, however, called a penalty on the play and took the touchdown off the scoreboard. Afterwards, officials admitted that they made a mistake at the end of the game.

What the officiating mistake did affect was something that the NFL rarely discusses: betting on NFL games. The Steelers were a five-point favorite over the Chargers. If the touchdown had been allowed to stand, the Steelers would have covered the point spread and anyone who bet on the Steelers would have won. Instead, the Steelers failed to cover the spread, so those who bet on the Steelers lost.

Since most bettors put their money on the Steelers to win, sports bookies ended up saving an estimated $32 million that they would have had to pay out if Polamalu's touchdown was allowed.

An estimated 100 million dollars was wagered worldwide on the Pittsburgh/San Diego game, according to RJ Bell of Pregame.com. Approximately 66% of that money was on the Steelers; with only 34% on the Chargers.

"If the touchdown was properly upheld, Steelers bettors would have won about 32 million dollars instead of losing big. This admittedly incorrect call resulted in a 64 million dollar swing in favor of the bookies," said RJ Bell of Pregame.com.

While millions of dollars were at stake, the issue was not brought up during the broadcast of the game nor in any post-game analysis, largely because of an unwritten rule that sports broadcasts avoid any mention of gambling.

During the game on CBS with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms, Nantz only alluded to the interest that the final play would draw for some. He certainly never mentioned the 4.5 point spread (with the home-standing Steelers as favorites) as the confusing ending was made even clunkier by the unspoken intrigue caused by the millions of dollars that were at stake for gamblers across America.

Although many gamblers were upset with the final score, it did make history. The Steelers-Chargers score marked the first time in history that an NFL game ended in a score of 11-10.

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Randy Seemiller (not verified)

at 21:57 on November 17th, 2008

Makes you wonder how the referees in the booth could screw up such a simple call that should have been so easy to review. They already are well versed on the importance of point differential in tie-breakers, so there was something to be said about making the correct call. As well, and as i already said, it was not a difficult call to make. Maybe someone made a little phone call to the ref call and said "let it go -- use confusion as an excuse, but call the play off".

degenerasian (not verified)

at 07:18 on November 18th, 2008

Point difference? Really? It's like the 8th tiebreaker, just ahead of coin toss.

I'm sure if that last play of the game was relevant to the outcome of the game then the refs would have taken a closer look. But it didn't matter and everyone had run onto the field, coaches had already shook hands so there was no point reviewing it over and over again just to hold up the game. The fact the the TD would have affected the gambling line and not the outcome of the game is irrelevant. NFL isn't played for gamblers.

rngrfan (not verified)

at 13:58 on November 18th, 2008

While I agree with your concept the reality is that the only reason the NFL exists in it popularity is because of the amount of money gambled on the games.