Byline: Eric Anderson Wisconsin State Journal
LAS VEGAS -- Thousands of University of Wisconsin football fans left a darkened Sam Boyd Stadium happy Saturday night, even though the Badgers' non-conference game against UNLV ended prematurely because of a power outage.
But many fans were also in the dark when it came to a state gambling rule that left some a little less happy a few hours later.
When the game was called with 7 minutes, 41 seconds remaining and UW declared a 27-7 victor, many of the Badgers faithful who had taken the opportunity to place bets on UW at local casinos figured they were double-winners: a win for their favorite team and some extra money in their pockets.
However, a rule followed by all sports books in Nevada requires that 55 minutes must be played for a college or professional football game to be considered official. If a game does not meet the time standard, all bets are refunded.
Saturday's game was cut short after 52:19 of action, meaning those betting on the Badgers were 2:41 away from a pay day.
'It has happened before. But it never happened so close to the 55-minute cutoff,' Art Manteris, the sports book director for Station Casinos, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. 'It's a bizarre situation, one of the most bizarre in my years of bookmaking.'
A worker at the Harrah's sports book, where the Badgers closed as 5-point favorites, said late Saturday night that reactions from those with money on UW had been mixed. By that time - about 2 hours after the game ended - most Badgers fans appeared disappointed, but not irate over the little-used rule.
'Everybody was having a good time at the game, even people that had money on it. I'm not sure they were real upset,' said Racine's Bob Domanik, who had bet $20 on UW at the Flamingo sports book.
Domanik, though, said he heard some tempers flared earlier at the Flamingo, where the Badgers closed as 6-point favorites. 'I guess they were upset. They had to get the security over here,' he said.
It didn't take long for a conspiracy theory to start surrounding the source of the power outage, which police said was caused by a vehicle running into a transformer near the stadium.
After all, if another 2:41 had been played, local casinos would have had to pay out a substantial amount of money to those who had bet on UW. And with so many Badgers fans in Las Vegas, much more money was surely wagered on UW than the Rebels - as evidenced by the betting line rising from 3 points early in the week to as much as 7 points by kickoff.
'I thought somebody maybe deliberately did it,' Middleton's Fred Ott said while standing at the sport book counter at the Flamingo.
When asked about that possibility, the Harrah's worker joked, 'For the right amount of money, you can get anything done in this city.'
