The playing aspect of the query is less complicated to reply as a result of each sportsbook has phrases of service that set up the way it handles such situations. And whereas most if not all sportsbooks don’t think about Monday’s sport to be official — the final rule is that 55 minutes of sport time should be performed, and the Bills-Bengals sport was halted within the first quarter — there are minor variations as as to if and when bets can be declared void and refunded.
At Circa Sports, for example, soccer video games should be performed inside eight days of their initially scheduled date and should be performed inside a 100-mile radius of the initially scheduled website. Circa has yet to refund bets on the Bills-Bengals sport as a result of there nonetheless is an opportunity it may very well be performed by Tuesday, eight days after the unique date. At BetMGM and Caesars, the window is one week after the initially scheduled date, although BetMGM announced Tuesday that it was voiding all unsettled wagers involving the sport.
But different sportsbooks have a a lot smaller window for completion. DraftKings guidelines say halted soccer video games should be accomplished inside 48 hours of the scheduled begin date or else all bets can be thought-about void; it additionally will refund bets if a sport is halted after which replayed in full. FanDuel soccer bets are refunded if the postponed sport is just not completed “within the same scheduling week,” which for the NFL typically means Thursdays by the next Wednesday. (BetRivers additionally employs this time-frame.)
FactorsBet voids bets on all video games which might be suspended earlier than completion and on postponed matches which might be moved to a date greater than 48 hours sooner or later.
If gamblers had a parlay leg nonetheless alive for Monday’s sport, sportsbooks will take away that leg if bets on that sport are thought-about void, and the parlay can be paid out primarily based on the lesser variety of legs.
The fantasy soccer aspect of the equation is far trickier to resolve. Most season-long fantasy leagues maintain their championship video games in Week 17, and a large variety of these title-game individuals had gamers remaining in Monday evening’s sport. Fantasy soccer operators have given gamers a number of choices, relying on whether or not the NFL strikes ahead with the Bills-Bengals sport.
Under CBS Sports’ phrases of service, statistics from every week are thought-about remaining on the next Thursday morning, and since the Bills-Bengals sport won’t be completed by then, no fantasy factors can be handed out from that sport. (Players from that sport are marked down as “bye” on CBS Sports’ fantasy scoreboards.) CBS Sports permits league operators to manually change sport scores, both by including gamers’ fantasy scores from their Week 18 video games or from a rescheduled Bills-Bengals sport, if that happens, or by merely counting the factors accrued earlier than Monday’s sport was referred to as off.
Yahoo won’t pay out any prize cash “until a final decision is made by the NFL on the Bills-Bengals game status,” the corporate stated in a message on its web site. If the NFL declares the Bills-Bengals sport remaining with a 7-3 rating, Yahoo will depend the fantasy factors accrued in that sport, but when the NFL cancels the sport, these fantasy factors can be wiped away. If the Bills-Bengals sport is resumed, Yahoo will add the fantasy factors accrued to Week 17 scores, even when it means a change in the results of a fantasy contest. Yahoo additionally permits fantasy commissioners to manually alter scoring, “but we encourage commissioners to wait until the NFL makes a final decision on the game’s status,” the corporate stated.
The FFPC, one other fantasy operator, said it should depend the stats accrued from Monday’s sport as a result of “they are currently official and have not been deleted by the NFL.” The FFPC won’t depend any stats if the Bills-Bengals sport is resumed or replayed as a result of its phrases of service state that NFL video games “must be played before the following week’s games begin” for statistics to depend.
“FFPC’s Week 17 is now considered complete and official,” the corporate stated, and it’ll award season prizes as soon as the Week 17 statistics develop into remaining Friday.
DraftKings, which affords each day fantasy contests, canceled its showdown and flash-draft contests involving solely the Bills-Bengals sport and refunded entry charges. Any each day fantasy participant who had Bills or Bengals gamers within the lineup of a traditional contest, involving NFL video games from all through Week 17, will a minimum of obtain their entry charges again, and people contests can be scored primarily based on present, accrued factors. Its best-ball contests, through which each day fantasy managers draft 20 NFL gamers and accrue factors primarily based on which gamers carry out the most effective, “will remain live until the NFL makes a final determination on the game’s status. If the game is not played, we will pay out based on current standings,” the corporate said.
Joe Bryant of FootballGuys, a fantasy-advice web site, says a certain quantity of grace is required when resolving this unprecedented scenario: “Be kind to your Commissioner and fellow GMs and take your time working this out,” Bryant tweeted. “There’s no need to rush. Above all, I don’t think you can go wrong with putting the highest value on unity and harmony, and camaraderie.”
