Adam Scott rues another missed putt (Reuters)
In the cutthroat world of sports gambling, bookmakers rarely issue refunds for bets — unless, of course, they make a mistake that warrants returning money back to the bettor.
But on Sunday evening following one of the worst collapses in Major championship history, one bookmaker in particular decided to go against the grain and do the unthinkable: they refunded bets for anyone that had money on Adam Scott to win The Open. That's right, refund losing bets. According to GeoffShackelford.com, SportsBettingOnline decided to throw some of their clients a bone, after Scott blew a four-shot lead with four holes to play at Royal Lytham and St Annes.
"With so many of the favourites including Woods not cashing, it was a good day for sportsbooks. But that wasn't the case for those who dropped money on Scott," stated Dave Johnson, head oddsmaker for SportsBettingOnline.ag. "We feel it's our duty to refund the players for taking such a bad beat. His collapse was historic and we know the bettors who had him must feel as awful as he does."
The refund is a nice gesture on the book's part, no doubt about it. But let's be honest: they probably made a killing last week. As the oddsmaker mentioned, all of the big names going into last week were off their game -- including Tiger Woods, the odds-on favourite, who never mounted a Sunday charge.
Refunding bets on Adam Scott was probably a drop in the bucket. Can you imagine them doing this if Tiger Woods choked away a four-shot lead in the final round? I didn't think so.
Regardless, good on the bookmaker for issuing the refund. You can bet there were likely a couple of guys out there counting their winnings when Scott was coming down the back nine.
Jonathan Wall, Devil Ball Golf, Yahoo! Sports