The sporting world took a major turn on Wednesday, March 11, with two NBA games being postponed and commissioner Adam Silver making the decision later that evening to suspend the season indefinitely. Other leagues quickly made the same decision with NHL suspending play, MLB ending spring training and delaying Sportsbook Day, while college hoops canceled conference tournaments and eventually the March Madness as a whole.
What exactly happens for bets placed not on individual games specifically but on futures such as league champions, win totals and MVPs?
For a look at the updated closures and cancelations, we have a full list of each league combating coronavirus.
What Happens To My Futures Bet?
Well, if you are holding on to that Golden State Warriors ticket to win the Western Conference at +600 like our good friend Gilles Gallant, you may be in luck. Although Golden State is a basement-dweller and has no shot at making the playoffs, if the season isn’t going to continue, the ticket will be voided. Marc Raymond of online sportsbook Sportsbook provided Odds Shark with this statement.
“All sporting events must take place on the date and at the site scheduled – unless otherwise specified. Time changes within a day do not affect wagers. If an event is postponed, rescheduled and/or relocated before it starts, that event will automatically be graded ‘No Action’ and your money will be refunded to your account.”
A void ticket is a lot better than an outright loss, am I right?! As for online sportsbook Sportsbook, no official answer has come out but their approach appears to be very similar.
“Basically, we will apply our rules, so if there are no playoffs all futures will be canceled and our win totals say 80 games must be played for action. But we are looking at all this to make sure all our players are taken care of accordingly.”
Meanwhile, Sportsbook is going with a more wait and see approach for the grading of their futures but overall are following suit with the other two books in that the action will just be voided if leagues are outright canceled. They did provide Odds Shark with an interesting quote regarding league champions futures tickets, though.
"In the case that they do not resume the season, but go straight to a playoff based on current standings, then outright markets will be valid, and season wins would be considered no action."
Essentially, hold on to those tickets if you still have them and if it appears like it’ll be a Sportsbook, pray that leagues return to play in a quick manner. If it looks like a loser, perhaps you want to hope for the opposite and have a void ticket.