Packers 4-Point Win over Lions (+3.5) Sinks Bookies

The Green Bay Packers broke hearts. They broke banks, too.

The team’s no-time-left-on-the-clock win put gamblers and bookies into the red from the black. The Lions entered the game as a 3.5-point underdog. But the Packers entered the second half down by 17-0. Soon, Detroit led 20-0. But that 20-point lead quickly evaporated into a two-point lead.

Up by two with six seconds left on the clock, the Lions looked like a lock. Even when referees flagged Detroit defensive end Devin Taylor for a questionable face mask on Aaron Rodgers, the wager on the home dogs appeared as a sure thing. After all, for Packer backers to collect on their bets, Rodgers would need to complete a 61-yard Hail Mary on an untimed down.

Another poor call by the #nfl officials cost a team a game! I’m sorry @Lions! There was no face mask!! pic.twitter.com/5NTfmwisKc

— Heath Evans (@HeathEvans44) December 4, 2015

He did just that. And soon after Aaron Rodgers threw the ball to Richard Rodgers, gamblers threw all sorts of items at the televisions.

Or maybe the bookies did. Bettors generally put money on the favorites and the over (46.5). So in one throw, Aaron Rodgers sealed a defeat not just for Detroit but for the house as well.

When Packers lost on the Fail Mary three years ago, a gambling site pointed out that Nevada generally takes $2.4 million in legal action on NFL games. Given that the amount in illegal betting reaches an exponentially higher sum, fortunes surely were won and lost based on Green Bay’s change of fortune last night.