Another Betting Controversy

It seems that, every few months, there is some sort of controversy in the world of professional wrestling betting.

This is one of those months.

Before I begin, I would like to be as transparent as I can possibly be: I had bets on Bobby Lashley to be the first person eliminated in the Elimination Chamber match for his WWE Championship yesterday evening.

The first wager was placed - at odds of 7/2 - with Kambi. As I noted in This Post from Wednesday, I also took the 20/1 Sky Bet offered for the same result.

Kambi has settled the bet a void. As of the time of writing, Sky Bet's market has not been graded. With the former, Kambi has sided with its ruling for that particular market.

It reads that the bets would be deemed void if there was a change in number of match participants (including during the match) or any listed participant does not take part (if applicable)'.

I feel like that is a complete cop out.

That rule exists in case an unadvertised wrestler enters the match (for example: when Edge took out Kofi Kingston and replaced him before the Elimination Chamber match at No Way Out in 2009). 

Yesterday evening, Bobby Lashley - in my humble opinion - WAS part of the match. He entered the ring, took his pod and was an eligible participant at the time the bell sounded to start.

Kambi's own rules - when you look at the betting company's time specials - indicate that a match begins with the first bell and concludes with the second bell.

Lashley was eligible from the moment the first bell was rung. Using the example I used from 2009 above, Kofi Kingston would not have been.

The mid-match injury, to remove Lashley from the contest, was part of the match's story. It's quite clear that the scenario was done to both save the then champion from looking weak in losing the title thus giving him an out when he returns and to - most importantly - protect him from further injury considering Lashley entered the contest with a hurt shoulder (something we didn't learn about until hours after the event).

The key point is Lashley entered the match as WWE Champion. When the bell rang to start the contest, he was still WWE Champion. The contest concluded with Lashley not WWE Champion. To say he was not part of the match is, as already stated, a cop out.