Las Vegas' $75 Million Swing From Thursday Night Football 'Safety'

According to the wagering information site, Pregame.com, there was a $75 million swing in the money bet on last night's San Francisco 49ers 13-6 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. Towards the ned of the game, Seattle was called for holding in their own end zone, which had the penalty been accepted by 49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh, would have resulted in a safety and two more points for San Francisco, probably meaning the final score would have been 15-7.

Instead, Harbaugh choose to take the ball as the fourth down play did not get enough yards and all his team needed to do was then take a knee to run out the clock.His justification was that had he taken the safety, the Seahawks mathematically had a chance to recover the kickoff and score on a magical play with a two-point conversion. Highly doubtful, but possible.

Here's the lowdown on what that one single play meant to the casinos and bettors from RJ Bell of Pregame.com.

You could hear the screams up and down the Vegas strip when Coach Harbaugh declined a safety late in Thursday’s NFL game.
49ers would have been winning by 9 with the safety – instead, they won by only 7.
San Francisco happened to be favored by between 7 and 8 points.

What did the safety mean for bettors?

An estimated 65% of the money bet on the game backed San Francisco;
with 35% of the money backing Seattle.

Overall, it’s safe to say that Coach Harbaugh’s unconventional decision
resulted in a $75 Million dollar swing worldwide
with the Bettors overall losing that amount (due to 65% of action on 49ers)
and the Bookies overall winning that amount.

Breakdown:
49ers -7 had money refunded (but would have won with the safety)
49ers -7.5 or -8 lost (but would have won with the safety)
Seahawks +7 had money refunded (but would have lost with the safety)
Seahawks +7.5 or +8 won (but would have lost with the safety)