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Houston Astros Scandal: PointsBet refunds New York Yankees’ tickets

By Ryan Sanders|
HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 19: Jose Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros comes home to score following his ninth inning walk-off two-run home run as Aroldis Chapman #54 of the New York Yankees walks off the field in game six of the American League Championship Series at Minute Maid Park on October 19, 2019 in Houston, Texas. The Astros defeated the Yankees 6-4. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
HOUSTON, TEXAS - OCTOBER 19: Jose Altuve #27 of the Houston Astros comes home to score following his ninth inning walk-off two-run home run as Aroldis Chapman #54 of the New York Yankees walks off the field in game six of the American League Championship Series at Minute Maid Park on October 19, 2019 in Houston, Texas. The Astros defeated the Yankees 6-4. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

The punishment for the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal has sent shockwaves through baseball this week.  Now, gamblers who lost on New York Yankees futures are feeling some relief.

By now we are all familiar with the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal and Jose Altuve‘s trash can aided walk off home run against the New York Yankees that sent the team to the World Series.

In addition to an entire fan base and league feeling scorned, bettors who had the Yankees winning the AL Pennant and World Series have also felt like they got burned.  PointsBet, a sportsbook based out of New Jersey, decided to extend an olive branch to those bettors who lost money on the Yankees.  PointsBet will be refunding those losing tickets as part of a “Good Karma Refund”.

In total, PointsBet is refunding five figures across hundreds of bets that were placed on the Yankees, according to a spokesman for the company.  What went from a horrid bad beat for Yankees’ fans and bettors back in October become even more soul crushing when news of the Astros scandal started coming out.

This isn’t the first time PointsBet has refunded bettors who suffered at the hands of a questionable call.  They also refunded Saints bettors for the infamous pass interference no call in the Saints-Rams NFL Playoff game from 2018.  This is a brilliant move by PointsBet because they are getting tons of favorable press, which will help them retain the customers they already have and help them grow new ones.  Moving forward, it will be interesting to see how sportsbooks and bettors alike value the Astros.  Surely their offense, especially at home, is going to regress and that should get priced into lines for the 2020 season.

A fun prop bet that some book will surely come up with has to be an Over/Under on Astros/Bregman/Altuve Hit By Pitches in the 2020 season.  Last season, Anthony Rizzo lead the league in HBPs with 27.  The 2019 Astros were a middle of the pack team with 66 HBPs but judging by this tweet from Indians hurler Mike Clevinger, the Astros will find themselves at the top of this leaderboard in 2020.

The starting line for Houston Astros batters plunked should start at 75 and the over would still be a good bet because Hell hath no fury like a scorned pitcher.

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