Sportsbooks differ on settling bets for USA-China gold medal tie - ESPN

The United States was a heavy betting favorite to claim the most gold medals at the Olympics, a race that would come down to the final event and end in a tie.

The U.S. entered the Olympics with -600 odds to win more gold medals than any other country at ESPN BET. China had the second-best odds at +350.

The U.S. women's basketball team held off France 67-66 in the gold medal game Sunday, giving the Americans their 40th gold medal and tying them with China for the most at the games. The U.S. garnered approximately 64% of the money wagered on the gold medal market at ESPN BET.

Sportsbooks took varying approaches to settling bets on the gold medal market. ESPN BET, DraftKings and FanDuel each settled gold medal bets with a «dead heat» rule, generally meaning half the amount of the bet is paid out at the odds offered.

BetMGM included a tiebreaker in its gold medal betting rules and deemed the U.S. the winner due to winning more silver medals than China. Sportsbooks Prime Sports and the South Point in Las Vegas elected to pay out bets on both the U.S. and China, although South Point sportsbook director Chris Andrews acknowledged on social media that the amount bet on the market was relatively small.

Basketball was the most popular event with bettors at most sportsbooks. The top-five most-heavily bet Olympic events were all basketball at DraftKings and Caesars Sportsbook, with the U.S. men's dramatic semifinal win over Serbia attracting more money wagered than any other event.

The largest Olympic upset, according to ESPN BET odds, was Italy's Alice D'Amato winning the women's balance beam at 80-1. American Simone Biles was an odds-on -175 favorite in the event.