At Super Bowl 55, a streaker ran onto the field, causing quite the stir in the sports betting world. In a surprising announcement, renowned sportsbook Bovada has decided to issue refunds regarding a prop bet where bettors wagered whether a fan would run on the field or not.
Yuri Andrade, 31, ran onto the field in a pink thong leotard to advertise “Vitaly Uncensored,” a pornography website run by YouTube Prankster Vitaly Zdorovetskiy.
Zdorovetskiy later admitted to the prank being his idea.
According to Andrade, he placed a $50,000 wager on the prop bet, ‘‘Will a fan run onto the field during the game?’
Since he was attending the NFL’s 2021 Super Bowl, Andrade got some help from a friend that distracted security while he got onto the field.
With some bettors who wagered that a fan wouldn’t run on the field feeling upset that their bets were affected by a publicity stunt, Bovada has decided to refund those bets.
Bovada Reinforces Even Playing Field
“Our players have always trusted us to ensure the integrity of all props offered in our sportsbook,” Bovada stated in a press release on Twitter. “We will continue to make sure that any publicity stunts or ill-intended behavior cannot adversely affect the outcome of a player’s wager.”
The odds for the ‘NO’ option fluctuated leading up to the Super Bowl on Bovada, reaching as high as +750.
However, Bovada wanted to do right by their bettors in ensuring that everyone feels like they’re on an even playing field.
“All of our players are on a level playing field, so if you bet ‘NO’ on this market we’re going to refund your bet,” Bovada added in their statement. “Additionally, we’re honoring all those ‘YES’ wagers we’ve determined to have had no part in the betting irregularities.”
“We’ll be reaching out to all those players impacted by this event shortly.”
There is no word as to what Bovada’s definition of an “irregularity” is, but it’s to be assumed that it could be anyone who bet an unusually high amount on this prop bet who may have had inside information.
How Legitimate was Andrade’s Bet?
As mentioned on US Gambling Sites on Tuesday, there are some discrepancies when it comes to Andrade’s story.
First of all, he originally said that he had to pay $1,000 for bail after he was arrested for a misdemeanor trespassing charge. However, the official police report stated that it was actually $500.
Secondly, he mentioned that he placed the wager at a Las Vegas sportsbook. Contrary to his belief, Vegas sportsbooks’ prop bets only deal with statistics that you can find in a box score.
There is no box score category for streakers.
Lastly, most major online sportsbooks don’t take large prop bets. For example, Bovada has said that the maximum bet you could make on that Super Bowl prop was $1,000 — a considerably less amount than Andrade’s alleged $50K bet.
The irregularity could have been Andrade alerting friends that we was going to conduct the stunt, giving them the opportunity to make unfair max bets, and he recently confirmed on a Florida radio station that’s exactly what he did.
These claims have yet to be verified but Bovada’s actions seem to indicate there is at least some validity to the original story.
The moral of the story? If you’re ever able to rig an event and rip off a sportsbook, maybe keep it to yourself – and in the case of the pink thong clad Super Bowl streaker – keep it in your pants.
