Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu scooped up the ball and raced 15 yards into the end zone for what looked like a meaningless touchdown against the Chargers as time expired on Sunday.

It may have been pointless to some but not to gamblers who backed Pittsburgh (-4.5) or San Diego (+4.5). The six points would’ve made the Steelers cover the number.

Advertisement

Both teams left the field and were content with the touchdown but the Steelers had to attempt the extra-point attempt due to point differential tiebreakers for the playoffs. As the teams were called back, the officials reviewed the play and nullified the touchdown due to an illegal forward pass. After the game, head referee Scott Green admitted that his crew made the wrong call and the touchdown should’ve been good.

So, did gamblers who bet the Steelers get to cash their tickets?

“We’re unaware of any clients that have paid off winning tickets on the Steelers yesterday,” said oddsmaker Jason Been of Las Vegas Sports Consultants, the company that provides the majority of lines to casinos in Nevada.

Once LVSC received confirmation that the score was official, they advised all of their clients to book the game at 11-10 and not 17-10 or 18-10, which is what the majority of players were hoping for.

Been explained, “It’s one of those unique situations that the player should’ve been able to cash the ticket but different circumstances happened and you book the closing line and score.”

According to Betting Trends at Sportsbook.com, over 72 percent of the action was on Pittsburgh. It’s been said that 67% of the action was on the Steelers in Las Vegas, which is why a lot of gamblers were upset and a lot of bookies happy.

“Games like this allow gamblers to reminisce on other weird endings in sports. One that always comes to my recollection is the Robin Ventura grand slam in the playoffs when the Mets beat the Braves in extra innings," added Been.

New York and Atlanta were tied 3-3 in the 15th inning of Game 5 in the 1999 National League Championship Series. Ventura walked up to the plate and drilled a pitch over the wall but he was mobbed by teammates between and first and second base. Since Ventura never touched home plate, the margin was changed from 7-3 to 4-3, giving him a run-scoring single.

It may not seem like a big deal for the “Average Joe” but for our purposes, the Mets should’ve cashed tickets on the run-line and all ‘over’ wagers should’ve hit as well.

For those of you that watch sports and bet on them regularly, you probably have tons of bad beats and we stress bad beats because isn’t it funny how you always remember the losers?

Do you think the guy who had the Chargers in Week 11 will remember that win next Sunday?

Most likely not and it’s probably the reason why this writer will never forget a pair of bad beats in his career.

1) Monday, Sept. 22, 1997 - Jacksonville 30 Pittsburgh 21

Normally, I let go of tough losses since they happen every week but this one really got me good and the situation made it worse. I’m in my final year at Penn State and though I’m not a fan of the Steelers, I had a lot of friends who obviously followed either the Black and Gold or the Eagles. It was a Monday Night Football game between the Steelers and Jaguars and like most Mondays in college, I was chasing since the week went Tuesday through Monday. At the time, I believe I had 30x ($150) on Pittsburgh +3, Over 40 and a 30x parlay with the side and total.

Pittsburgh trailed 23-21 with a handful of ticks left on the clock as Norm Johnson lined up for the game-winning kick. Personally, I didn’t give a rat's ass if Johnson made the kick or not, knowing that I couldn’t lose (did I just say that), but I got into the game with my Pitt buddies and played the part. Sure enough, Johnson not only misses it but it gets blocked and Chris Hudson returns it 58 yards for a touchdown. The game was made infamous for head Bill Cowher, who almost tackled Hudson as he pranced up the sideline for the meaningless score. If you do the math, the blocked kick was about a dime difference and that’s a lot for a college kid.

2) Saturday Oct. 19, 1996 – Arizona State 48 USC 35 (2 OT)

For those of you that believe your team can’t cover more than seven points in overtime, this bad beat will tell you otherwise. The Sun Devils were damn good in 1996 -- think back to Jake Plummer days when they defeated top-ranked Nebraska 19-0 and wound up going 11-0 in the regular season before losing to Ohio State 20-17 in the Rose Bowl. It was a great team and even better against the spread (7-2). Nine of the 11 wins were by double-digits but one of them shouldn’t have been, at least not in my mind.

Arizona St. and Jake Plummer made gamblers a ton of cash in 1996. (Getty Images)

The Trojans opened up as nine-point road underdogs in this game but the line closed as low as 6 at some outfits. I took USC in this matchup with the points (+8) and the Trojans opened up a 14-0 lead early. Since I was still raw to the business back in ’96, a 14-point lead with an extra touchdown to spare seemed like an easy winner. As the game went back and forth, the last score update I caught was USC leading 28-21 in the fourth quarter. Keep in mind that this was the pre-satellite era so I was catching updates while watching some Big Ten game or a ND battle (My memory isn’t that good).

The game goes 28-28 and off to overtime, which just happened to be introduced to in 1996. Prior to that, all college football clashes ended in ties. USC went up 35-28 in the first extra session but Plummer quickly knotted up the score. The next highlight I get is 42-35 and now I’m scratching my head because I’m still trying to figure out how this overtime/ball-possession thing works.

Still catching eight points, so we’re just waiting on the winner, right? Guess again…USC fumbled and Arizona State returned the fumble 85 yards en route to your typical 13-point overtime victory.

If you think you can beat those, shoot me an email with your worst loss and we’ll get you out some freebies from VegasInsider.com.

Chris David can be reached at cdavid@vegasinsider.com