USA-China Gold Medal Tie: Sportsbooks Pay Out Differently

USA Women's Basketball Team Gives USA 40th Gold Medal

When the USA women’s basketball team completed its comeback victory over France in the women’s gold medal game, it gave the USA its 40th gold medal.

That was the same number won by China. It also created a bit of a mess for sportsbooks, which took wagers on the country to win the most gold medals at Olympics.

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The USA was a prohibitive favorite. Odds on the USA winning the most gold medals at the 2024 France Olympics typically ranged from -600 to -750. The USA-China gold medal tie created a dilemma for sportsbooks. Different sportsbooks treated the final results differently.

ESPN BET, DraftKings, Bet365 and FanDuel paid bettors of both countries at half of the winning odds. BetMGM used the most silver medals as a tie-breaker, which meant it paid out to the USA for betting purposes.

The USA netted 44 silver medals from the Olympics results. China had 27. BetMGM did have the foresight to include the silver medal tiebreaker in its rules for the gold medal count.

Other sportsbooks used the USA-China gold medal tie as a goodwill gesture by paying bettors of both countries. Prime Sports, a relatively new sportsbook in New Jersey and Ohio, was one of the sportsbooks which paid out on both sides.

The SuperBook and South Point sportsbooks in Las Vegas also paid out both sides. That turned out to be a good marketing move, as it creates goodwill with customers and also garners attention. The handle on the overall gold medal count was small compared to the betting on the individual sports.

Sportsbooks Create Solid Lines in Olympics

The Olympics drew quite a few more viewers than the 2021 Olympics. Sports betting is also now legal in roughly twice as many states as it was in 2021.

Betting was definitely higher and the sportsbooks are expecting the next Olympics, which will held in Los Angeles in 2028, to be even better.

The sportsbooks aren’t entering the Olympics completely blind. They have a pretty good idea of what is going to transpire.

While there will always be an upset or two at such an event, the sportsbooks do a solid job posting lines on so many events featuring different athletes from all over the world.

The over/under on the USA gold medal count was 40.5, so under bettors managed to sneak in there. The over/under on the number of gold medals won by China was 34.5.

Netherlands over bettors had to sweat it out, but the country won 15 golds to go over the 14.5 total. Ireland captured four golds and its over/under was 2.5. Belgium was on the opposite side of the fence by winning three gold medals against a total of 3.5.

The event that attracted the most money was basketball, as USA fans are familiar with the players. The men’s gold medal game between the USA and Victor Wembanyama’s France squad, was the most heavily bet game. France did cover the point spread, losing 98-87 as 16.5-point underdogs.

The USA women’s basketball team was favored by 15.5 points and the total was 157. The Americans didn’t come close to covering the point spread in their 67-66 victory, but they got the gold medal to force the USA-China gold medal tie.

For gambling news, odds analysis, and more, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.


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