In the third installment of the season of "Fezzik Friday," the man writes:
For starters, it's important to understand that it's a myth that most bookmakers "set" their own opening lines. Rather the vast majority of books simply copy the openers that another book has put up. Two (somewhat rare) mistakes can occur when they do this. The wrong team is listed as the favorite, or they simply miscopy the number that's supposed to be up on a game. When this happens, it's called a "mistake line."
Offshore books have it easier with regard to mistakes. The rules of almost every offshore book clearly state that wagers made versus mistake lines will not be honored, and all bets on those games will be deemed "no action." Sometimes you'll simply get away with it, but don't count on it. And you can try arguing when your bet is cancelled, but you usually won't get anywhere.
Nevada books have to be much more careful. In Nevada, tickets go "as written,"" so if a book accepts wagers on a mistake line, it's obligated to honor that ticket. Extreme cases have occurred and been upheld. In one famous example a Las Vegas book made a 35-point favorite plus 35 on a game. Amazingly, the betting public stared blankly at the board for half a day without one person noticing. A low-rolling pro finally did and proceeded to get down on the game several times. When he won -- and it's hard not to with a 70-point spot (35 points each way) -- the book had to honor the wagers. Afterward, the manager told him to take his winnings and never come back.
Some Nevada books have a more reasonable policy when someone "takes a shot" with a mistake line. They contact the bettor prior to the game and request that he void the ticket voluntarily. If he refuses, his action on the game, win or lose, is often the last bet the book will take from him. I think this policy is a good one when the line is off by 7 or more points. Anything less than that, I feel the book should simply chalk it up as a cost of doing business and in the future be careful to always have an independent employee check the opening lines before they're put up.
A much more common variant of this is when a "stale" line stays up too long. While it isn't an outright mistake, the effect is essentially the same in that a bad number is available to be exploited. The best way for a customer to act in this situation is to make the bet, then immediately notify the book about the key injury or weather that has not been considered in the line. Any sharp book will be appreciative that it had to write only one ticket on the bad number.
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