DraftKings Gambling Site to Refund Lost Bets on Penn State After Questionable Conversion

If you thought Indiana's finish was crazy, the gambling website DraftKings thought so, too. The gambling website is refunding money lost by Penn State bettors because of the controversial call.

The DraftKings gambling site confirmed with Sports Illustrated on Sunday morning that it is going to refund money to bettors who lost on No. 8 Penn State Saturday at Indiana.

Longtime sports business and gambling analyst Darren Rovell tweeted late Saturday night that DraftKings was going to provide the refund. 

"Yes, that is correct,'' a DraftKings spokesman said Sunday via email. "We are refunding ML (money line) bets on Penn State from yesterday. Bettors should see the money in their accounts at some point on Sunday.''

The Hoosiers won 36-35 in overtime, scoring on a two-point conversion when quarterback Michael Penix Jr. dove toward the goal line. Pictures of the play from various angles made it look like the ball hit out of bounds before crossing the goal line. 

Other pictures showed the point of the ball breaking the plane of the goal line before hitting out of bounds. Because it was called a score on the field, there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the call.

Stunningly, DraftKings seems to want to cure the wrong itself.

DraftKings is refunding all ML straight bets on Penn State after the controversial OT call on the Indiana two-point conversion.

The company says that bets will be refunded in the form of site credits within 24 hours.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 25, 2020

It's uncommon for any casino or gambling site to ever refund money, because they never like giving up a dollar if they don't have to. But according to Rovell, they play on refunding money to everyone who bet Penn State on the money line to win the game. It's something of an informal 'Bad Beats' insurance. They've done it before on crazy finishes, just not very often.

Penn State was a 6-point favorite. They will not be refunding money to people who bet Penn State on the point spread.

It was the season opener for both teams and it was the first time that Indiana had beaten a top-10 team since beating Ohio State in 1987 — a span of 33 years.

Indiana scored with 22 seconds to go and then tied the game at 28-28 on a two-point conversion. In overtime, Indiana answered a Penn State touchdown with a score of its own, and then went for two again, winning the game on Penix's dive.

It was the first time in more than 20 years that a team won a game with two two-point conversions in the final minute and overtime.