Bad beats: Quirky Canadian football rule tops worst beats in sports betting from last week

It’s July, and even though NFL training camps open in just a few weeks, it’s OK if you’re missing football a little more during the quietest time on the American sports calendar.

We won’t judge you if you spent your Thursday night watching the winless Edmonton Elks do battle with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Canadian Football League action. But we will send a bit of sympathy your way if you had anything riding on the underdog Elks to win the game.

In the moment, unless you’re a CFL aficionado, you probably had no idea what was happening. What transpired was a weird ending and our top bad beat from the previous week in sports.

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Edmonton was +240 on the money line and a 7½-point underdog vs. Saskatchewan. So when the Elks were receiving a Roughriders kickoff with 1 minute, 4 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, Edmonton point spread backers were in fantastic shape, and those who bet the money line had a great shot.

Instead, Saskatchewan’s booming kick bounced into the end zone, and Edmonton’s CJ Sims did not appear to know a quirky Canadian football rule that awards the opposing team a point if the ball is downed in the end zone.

Watch for yourself:

Confused? We were, too. Read up on what a rouge is here.

Edmonton covered the point spread, but that point was the deciding one, giving Saskatchewan the win and Elks money line bettors a bad beat.

No wonder the Elks are winless.

Tarik Skubal, Detroit’s talented 26-year-old righty, was making his second start of 2023, and the Tigers were slight underdogs on the final day before Major League Baseball’s All-Star break.

It was a decent spot to back Detroit vs. Toronto and Chris Bassitt.

And for a while, Tigers backers were in good shape. Detroit scored runs in the second, third, and fifth innings and eventually took a 3-1 lead into the ninth inning. Tigers closer Alex Lange came on, and bettors had to be feeling good when Lange struck out Bo Bichette and then got Vladimir Guerrero Jr. out on a ground ball.

Lange then walked Matt Chapman, bringing designated hitter Danny Jansen to the plate. Lange’s 1-0 sinker didn’t sink enough, and Jansen crushed it 414 feet to tie the score at 3 — and the Blue Jays went on to win in the 10th inning.

Thursday night in Arizona, the Diamondbacks hosted the Mets, and the total was set at 10 runs at most sportsbooks. It was a lot of runs, but it made sense considering the starting pitching matchup.

New York’s Carlos Carrasco entered with a 5.94 ERA and hadn’t pitched more than five innings in a game since May. Arizona’s Ryne Nelson had a 4.67 ERA, but was coming off two solid starts.

So when the Mets scored twice in the first inning and five times in the third, over bettors had to feel pretty good. Eight runs in 2½ innings? With Carrasco going for the Mets? Surely, Arizona could score at least three runs the rest of the night. Nope. Carrasco threw eight shutout innings and the Mets won, 9-0.

The Diamondbacks, one of MLB’s biggest surprises in 2023, had just four hits on the night. Of course, they scored seven runs the next night vs. Pittsburgh.

We know, poker isn’t a sport, and this isn’t a sports betting beat. But this was pretty brutal.

Imagine grinding your short stack during Day 2 of the Main Event at the World Series of Poker and finally finding the perfect spot to double-up and get some breathing room by flopping Aces full.

That happened to bracelet winner Kory Kilpatrick. But little did he know when one of his opponents called his all-in bet on the river that he wasn’t about to be piling up chips, he was going home.