The annual Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest took place Monday, which featured competitive eating legend Joey Chestnut‘s quest to win his 15th victory in the contest.
The over/under for the number of hot dogs eaten by Chestnut was 74.5 at many sportsbooks. Lots of bettors decided to take the over, considering Chestnut’s record-setting performance of 76 hot dogs in 2021.
However, bettors were in for a bad beat, as Chestnut had to deal with some controversy during the contest that nobody would have anticipated.
While the contest was already underway, a protester came on the stage with a sign reading “Expose Smithfield Deathstar,” in protest of pork producer Smithfield Foods.
Chestnut then stopped eating his hotdogs briefly to take down the protester in front of him, until security was able to swiftly take him off the stage.
It was a very quick interaction, but it clearly affected Chestnut’s performance in the competition. However, he still won easily, eating 63 hot dogs.
This total flew well under the spread for hot dogs eaten, but bettors were offered relief by a number of sportsbooks on Monday.
FanDuel Sportsbook announced that they would be refunding all bettors that took the over.
🚨 𝐁𝐀𝐃 𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐓 𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐃 🚨
Due to a brief interference at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, we've decided to refund all straight bets on Joey Chestnut to eat Over 74.5 hot dogs 🌭
(Refunds will be issued within 24 hours) pic.twitter.com/npg5M19GUU
— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) July 4, 2022
DraftKings Sportsbook and Barstool Sportsbook also refunded the overs while paying out winnings for under bettors.
It can certainly be argued that these sportsbooks are being extremely generous here and that Chestnut was going to fall short of the 75 hot dogs needed to win the bet anyways. His interaction with the protester only lasted a few seconds.
Regardless, it is great to see that these prominent sportsbooks are giving bettors the benefit of the doubt and refunding money for those who bet over on Chestnut.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.