The final score of a game is just that – a final score. But after the NCAA updated an incorrect score in the Texas A&M/UCLA game, that apparently is no longer true.

On Saturday, the referees made the right call, but the scorekeeper missed it. The game between ULCA and Texas A&M ended ‘officially’ at 53-49, UCLA winning by four. But the last score, a dunk by Russell Westbrook did not count. The referees had waved it off, but the official scorekeeper called the dunk good. The final score did not matter as to the outcome of the game, but for second half bettors, a huge mistake had been made.

Let’s be perfectly clear: The NCAA does not care about any ‘line’ or about betting on their games. The NCAA simply made the change after a full day of complaints from all sides to correct the record books and they were certainly not in any hurry to do so. It took until Sunday night for the change to be made. This is the crux of bookmakers’ decisions on how the play was handled.

The game line for the second half opened at UCLA -6.5 and quickly moved to -7. UCLA’s Russell Westbrook celebrated a game-ending dunk which brought the score to 53-49 and made the -7 line a push for Bruin bettors. However, a day later, officials correctly updated the score of the UCLA victory over Texas A&M to 51-49. This meant that UCLA only won the second half by 5. But in most offshore post-up books, the score was never updated and the plays not re-graded.

Bettors on both sides were bantering back and forth and by Monday our phone lines and email box were full of Texas A&M bettors who felt bilked. We made some contact with offshore operators to get their take and what they did with the play. We were told that the game would stand as originally reported. After all, a game score is final. It is what it is…..

Most books graded the game as originally reported 53-49 and stuck to that decision. They referred to rules stating, for betting purposes, “the winner of an event will be determined on the date of the event’s conclusion. Sportsbooks do not recognize suspended games, protests, scoring amendments, result reversals or overturned decisions.” However, this was a decision made on a book by book basis offshore. There was no meeting to discuss this and render a decision, each operator did what he felt was right. And you cannot fault them for that as in this situation; somebody was going to be unhappy. We do have to give kudos to two operators, BetJamaica and Olympic. They graded the game at 51-49, and these two outfits also gave the push to UCLA second half bettors! We had also heard that perhaps grading it ‘no action’ should have been the way to go. But, not 24 hours later.

The problem with a post-up shop is that since the change was made so late, many post-up bettors had already wagered out of their accounts – before the game score was changed. If UCLA bettors lost on Sunday and the game was re-graded as a loss, their accounts could have gone negative. More than one bookmaker told us that they would have re-graded the game had the score change occurred that night – not the next day.

We heard from guys who figured that the book they played at made the decision on whether or not to re-grade the game based on their handle, stating the obvious, that if their book was heavy on A&M, they graded it with the original score, a loser from Aggie bettors. This did not factor into any of the books that we spoke to as most of them had a decision on. The score at the end of the game was official and scores are final when the gun goes off, the fat lady sings and the arena empties. A post-up shop would have an awfully hard time readjusting hundreds of playes, potentially chasing down players for money, with a score change an entire day later. And there would still be unhappy customers!

A credit shop however, could regrade the game. Accounts when playing on credit are generally not paid out on or collected from until Monday. And Nevada sportsbooks . . . from what we understand . . . throughout the state they handled the decision differently and inconsistently as well.

In all, players were looking for this to get graded both ways. And bookmakers are not in the business of losing BOTH sides of a play. Nor should they be. The game is what it is at the final gun. Yes, mistakes were made, but mistakes are made by officials in every sport. Should we take away a free throw when we look at the tape the next day and no foul was committed? Did the NCAA review the last seconds in the end of this years’ Villanova/Georgetown matchup when a questionable call with :01 left put the Hoyas on the line, giving them the win, in a tie game? How many NFL replays have we watched and STILL felt the officials got it wrong?

Though many bettors on all sides of this decision are upset, the final score of a game is final. If you look at horse racing, a horse that wins, and is later found out to have consumed a ‘milkshake’ does not have its bets reversed. The posted results are just that – final results.

The most ironic thing in all of this is that the final dunk did not change the outcome of the game for millions of fans. Thus, March Madness pool players and bettors who only had this as a win or loss in a weekend of 48 games certainly didn’t care. The NCAA, outside of a little embarrassment, is probably pleased that there is a betting controversy over their sport; though we do have to believe that some of the pressure to correct the score came from Vegas. And finally – UCLA players, coaches and fans are advancing in the tourney and the Aggies are all sitting at home. I doubt either care about the score update.

So, those of you who play at a book that stood with the original score and had Texas A&M -5, can chalk this up to another bad beat. I am surprised that I wasn’t all over them….