Wise Guys Canceled

The 2021 invitation-only Wise Guys Contest was canceled. The contest involves picking two games each Monday with Monday spreads. The contest could be accessed by civilians (I think the charge is 10 bucks) later in the week, but offering plays late in a Covid week after lines may have radically changed was not something Playbook wanted to do. I commend them for being straight shooters and canceling the contest. Being based in Florida these days, which is a Covid hotspot, probably provided some perspective. Managing a contest when games could be canceled and large numbers of players may sit each week would have undermined the competition.

https://www.playbooksports.com/Vegas-Wise-Guys/

I don't know why they needed to cancel. Sure circumstances were different, in that there will be more line changes as the week goes on due to Covid, but all the players or contestants are at the same disadvantage. :confused:

Now just wondering, taking it out of the contest and just into the world of sportsbetting.

Baseball lines are determined because of the pitching matchups. So what happens if the starting pitcher is scratched last minute? Are bets a "no action"?

And football, it would seem if a couple key players, particularly a quarterback is scratched because of covid, I don't know....should previous wagers become a "no action"? definitely has changed the odds and likelihood of the outcome.

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Originally Posted by kewlJ

I don't know why they needed to cancel. Sure circumstances were different, in that there will be more line changes as the week goes on due to Covid, but all the players or contestants are at the same disadvantage. :confused:

Now just wondering, taking it out of the contest and just into the world of sportsbetting.

Baseball lines are determined because of the pitching matchups. So what happens if the starting pitcher is scratched last minute? Are bets a "no action"?

And football, it would seem if a couple key players, particularly a quarterback is scratched because of covid, I don't know....should previous wagers become a "no action"? definitely has changed the odds and likelihood of the outcome.

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The problem is that it's a public contest, and people follow it and bet the plays. The plays aren't publicly available until later in the week. Since the plays are using a Monday line, the plays the handicappers make have lines that may be radically different from the lines the public has by the time the public accesses the plays. The handicappers, for many games, may not even like the games they originally took by the time Friday rolls around and the lines have changed.

Personally, I would not have played the contest if they had it this season. You don't know what games may be canceled or postponed. College games are much more likely to be canceled or postponed than NFL games, and I'm a college handicapper. I don't even enter NFL spread contests unless they're no cost to me. If they had the contest, it favors the NFL handicappers because their plays are less likely to be canceled or postponed.