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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

NFL : Paddy Power refund losing bets on Green Bay Packers

Top Irish bookmaker Paddy Power has decided to refund losing handicap (ATS) and match bets (ML) on the Green Bay Packers @ Seattle Seahawks game in one of their well known "Justice Payouts".

The problem was ultimately caused by the regular NFL referees going on strike over a pay dispute with team owners. This league were forced to call in back-up officials for the first three weeks of the season.

These "replacement referee" guys have been doing their best but it has been painfully clear many of them are out of their depth - with most of them having previously officiated in College Division II and III only.

Many poor calls have been made in the first three weeks but this is the worst one so far.

With seconds to go, Seattle were in possession but needed to cover a lot of ground in a very short time. Quarter-back Russell Wilson launched a Hail Mary pass in to the end zone and several players went for the catch. Green Bay’s MD Jennings came down in possession of the ball but Seattle’s Golden Tate was also clinging on to it for dear life. One referee gave a touchdown; the other didn’t.

So we went to a replay.



Not only does the replay show Jennings got full control of the ball first, which would have resulted in a turn-over and won the game for the Packers, it also shows Tate clearly shoving Green Bay’s Sam Shields in the back before making his jump.

Paddy Power determined it was a clear offensive foul and again should have been enough to nullify the touchdown and hand Green Bay the win.

Despite going to the replay, the touchdown was somehow allowed to stand - and thousands of punters everywhere found themselves out of pocket.

So Paddy Power has made the call to refund losing customer bets on the Green Bay Packers - a top guesture - and one that just underlines why they are one of Europe's top bookmakers ... are you betting at Paddy Power?

(Sorry no US customers accepted).

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