A little-known college basketball matchup made big headlines for others as an apparent scoring error between Illinois State and Chicago State left major implications in the betting market.
Illinois State beat Chicago State, 80-71, which seems insignificant to most. It was a bad beat even in normal circumstances for those who had the Redbirds at either -10 or -9.5. It's even worse knowing that the score was wrong.
With 49 seconds left in a 75-67 game, Illinois State's Josiah Strong was fouled and awarded two free throws. According to the play-by-play log, Strong missed the first free throw and made the second.
However, as video shows, Strong made both.
Hope you had a good NFL day – can I borrow your attention, real quick?
In Saturday's Illinois St/Chicago St CBB game, Illinois St is up 75-67 when Josiah Strong is awarded two FT's.
He makes both FT's. The score increments by ONE point. It is never corrected. Watch yourself: pic.twitter.com/M5RxDGik29
— Captain Jack Andrews (@capjack2000) December 13, 2021
That point was never awarded to Illinois State, meaning the final score should have been 81-71 and a cover for -9.5 bettors or push for those who had -10.
PointsBet has already said it will grade all bets winners that would have cashed at the score of 81-71.
BetMGM paid bets on the initial results, citing house rules that the "winner of an event or game will be determined on the date of the event's conclusion."
Caesars Sportsbook said on Monday that it would honor bets on both sides of the spread.
WynnBET declined comment.
Representatives from DraftKings and FanDuel had not yet responded to a request for comment at time of publish.
According to ESPN, the Chicago State athletic department is working with the NCAA to correct the score. The game was played at Chicago State.
In the short-term, many legal bets will likely be corrected or given promotion dollars as a public relations play. It's unlikely Chicago State and Illinois State brought in significant handle. However, it presents a bigger issue as teams and leagues partner with both sportsbooks and data providers and issues like this arise.
This story will be updated as more information becomes available.
