NBA to Continue; Many Bettors Refunded After Postponements

By Dan Kilbridge

Mar 14th, 2024 7:22 AM EDT

There will be no NBA playoff games Thursday from the bubble in Florida. But the season will reportedly go on after indications it was on the brink following a player meeting Wednesday night.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that players have decided to continue the season after the Milwaukee Bucks chose not to take the floor for their game against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday. The Bucks were protesting a recent police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin, among other racial injustice.

The Lakers-Trail Blazers and Rockets-Thunder games scheduled later Wednesday night did not take place, and Thursday’s Nuggets-Jazz and Celtics-Raptors games have also been postponed.

The protests brought NBA betting to a halt, with no clear decisions yet on when the postponed games will be played.

The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that most casinos decided to refund all Wednesday and Thursday NBA bets rather than wait and hold on to those wagers until the games are played at a later date.

These practices and protocols on games postponed for any reason can fall into a gray area simply known as “Vegas rules.” While there are set procedures and written rules for something like an MLB rainout, there is no road map for games called off due to unprecedented player protests.

But many sportsbooks do include language that games must be played on the scheduled date for wagers to hold up. South Point, Station Casinos and William Hill are among the Las Vegas casinos who applied that policy in this case and refunded all wagers.

Westgate is one of the few sportsbooks which did not refund players and will honor the bets when the games are made up. However, Westgate did refund bets on three WNBA games and three MLB games which did not take place Wednesday as some teams and athletes in other sports followed the NBA’s lead.

Several MLS games and WTA tennis matches were also called off. It remains to be seen if the protests and cancellations will continue as athletes use their platform to demand action and racial equality.

For now, despite some rumblings to the contrary, it appears the NBA could resume as early as Friday as players continue to organize and plan the next steps.

About the Author

Dan Kilbridge

More About Dan

Handicapper Dan Kilbridge writes about college football, MLB and other sports for kobe.bookies.com after spending three years covering Tiger Woods’ comeback and the PGA for Golfweek.

Comments

Sign In | Sign Up

Post

View more