This week was a busy week for betting and sports bets with PENN Entertainment’s ESPN Bet launching. It has not started out well.
Bettors have been enraged with ESPN BET after a five-leg Same Game Parlay went viral on social media. The PENN-operated sports betting app is voiding any parlay where one leg has a push, even if all other legs were successful.
X user @CalculatorGrant had a five-leg parlay that saw the Eagles push as -3 favorites against the Bills. Most other sportsbooks would have this as a win, but ESPN BET voided the entire parlay.
The bet in question was a same-game parlay that included DeVonta Smith over 57.5 receiving yards + D’Andre Swift over 59.5 rushing yards + Eagles -3 + Stefon Diggs over 63.5 receiving yards + Josh Allen over 1.5 passing touchdowns.
The bet is labeled “no action” by ESPN BET. Basically, you will not be graded with a victory with a push even if your other legs are successful. If any leg is unsuccessful, you are graded a loss, as usual.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
ESPN BET is the sole sportsbook that only voids SGPs that win when one leg voids.
At DraftKings, BetMGM, or Caesars, you could go 0-for-4 with one push and you’d still get your money back. At ESPN BET, you could go 3-for-4 with one push and lose your stake.
ESPN BET’s bylaws read as follows:
“If one or more selections in a same game parlay portion of a Parlay+™ wager settle as a push (for example, due to a total ending up exactly on the number that was selected), the same game parlay portion of the Parlay+™ wager that contained the applicable selection will be deemed a push, except if a selection of such same game parlay portion results in a loss, in which case above applies. The remaining selections in the Parlay+™ wager will be graded in accordance with the Operator’s house rules.”
For regular parlays, the rules are different as sportsbooks will recalculate odds and grade as normal on those because odds aren’t correlated.
