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Every individual play in professional sports is dissected at a microscopic level, meaning the smallest of margins could cost bettors millions of dollars.
It’s enough to make you go crazy.
On Tuesday, a group of bettors went wild after they wagered on Russell Westbrook to record a double-double against the 76ers (+390, FanDuel).
The wager looked to be a winner as the Nuggets’ guard was credited with having 10 assists initially before a stat correction removed an assist on a first-quarter pass to Nikola Jokic on a layup.
The pass was later corrected to just a field goal for Jokic as the ball may or may not have been tipped by forward Guerschon Yabusele.
This was graded as an assist and then taken away from him. This is Russell Westbrook’s 10th assist @nbastats Please credit him for this assist pic.twitter.com/twCwCFIk7a— Rio (@RioStaysTrue) January 22, 2025
One bettor, @RioStaysTrue, posted on social media his $10 parlay, which consisted of Westbrook to get a double-double along with LeBron James to get a triple-double (+550) and Josh Hart to record 8+ rebounds (+350) at +14232 odds that would have netted a $1,433.25 payout.
The Hart and James legs of the bet both cashed.
Many bettors flooded in with similar betting tickets, including two others, with one worth $2,762.50 and another that would have paid out $2,423,43.
What happened next was bizarre, as bettors who were upset with the NBA statisticians for probably correctly changing Westbrook’s pass to a non-assist flooded the NBA Stats email, pleading for a re-correction to the official record as bets were officially graded as a loss.
“I have posted this on my X account and 100,000+ people wanting this fixed. Russell Westbrook had not one, but two assists graded as assists and then incorrectly taken away. Please see the videos below and do the right thing for the community. Thank you so much,” one email posted on X read.
The idea of angry bettors messaging the leagues to update outcomes and change stats is a bizarre response and a slippery slope down the already dangerous road of sports gambling.
When reached by phone, an NBA spokesperson confirmed that there would be no re-correction, meaning Westbrook ended the game with nine assists instead of the elusive 10th.
The NBA, according to Sleeper, defines an assist as “…a pass that directly leads to a basket. This can be a pass to the low post that leads to a direct score, a long pass for a layup, a fast-break pass to a teammate for a layup, and/or a pass that results in an open perimeter shot for a teammate. In basketball, an assist is awarded only if, in the judgment of the statistician, the last player’s pass contributed directly to a made basket. An assist can be awarded for a basket scored after the ball has been dribbled if the player’s pass led to the field goal being made.”
With the ball being tipped, this is ruled as a non-direct pass, although it’s a really close call made on the thinnest of margins.
That’s how it goes in gambling. People will lose their minds over losing hard-earned money on a game of inches, sometimes centimeters.
DraftKings told The Post that Westbrook to record a double-double was the 11th-most bet-on prop of the entire sports betting market Tuesday, while it ranked 130th at BetMGM.
Betting on the NBA?
BetMGM’s house rules state: “BetMGM/Borgata settles markets in accordance with the official rules, statistics and results as declared by the league’s governing body.”
Sports betting stat tracking software Pikkit, which tracks bets on all sportsbooks, told The Post that Westbrook received the third-most bets of any player in the Nuggets-76ers game yesterday, with Jokic and Tyrese Maxey the only players receiving more interest.
Out of 138,000 bets tracked on the Nuggets-76ers on Tuesday, 915 of them were on Westbrook to notch a double-double.
Separately, Westbrook, to record Over 9.5 assists (also known as 10+ assists), was bet on 515 times, according to the wagering tracking software.
Americans have wagered $220 billion legally in the United States over the past five years and one operator previously told The Post they are primarily focusing on getting customers to wager more on basketball.
Why Trust New York Post Betting
Erich Richter is a brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt but he has a black belt in MMA betting. During the football season he’s showcased massive profits at The Post in the player prop market the last two seasons. While constantly betting long shots, his return on investment is 30.15 percent since 2022.
