After nine years in prison, OJ Simpson is a happy man, and so are the thousands of people who placed bets on him being granted parole this week. As strange as it may seem, there were plenty of online gambling establishments who actually had a line on his parole hearing and the oddsmakers, and many gamblers knew it was time for OJ to be free.
In a remarkable moment in American cultural history, OJ Simpson was famously acquitted of murder in 1995. However, he later lost a civil trial for wrongful death, which carried no jail time but did lead to forfeiture of most of the former NFL star´s material possessions. And then as bad news follows the bad news, Simpson later was arrested for kidnapping and robbery as he attempted to recover some of the items seized as part of his civil trial penalty. The entire third trial, this time once again a criminal case, seemed more about getting justice for his first trial. OJ Simpson was found guilty of both robbery and kidnapping and was sentenced to what could have been up to 33 years in prison, which would have seen him released at the age of 93. Most people saw the sentence as more of a punishment for the murders than the actual robbery charge, and as many gamblers predicted, it was always assumed Simpson would get out early on parole.
In the days leading up to the parole hearing, the betters came down decidedly on the side of OJ Simpson being granted parole, with the finale lines at -300 for parole being granted and +200 for parole being denied. This means a $100 bet on YES resulted in a payout of just $33, while a bet of NO offered a $200 reward. For those who actively followed the case and the previous parole hearing, the YES bet was almost a sure thing since Simpson was previously granted parole by the same board for the robbery charges, but was returned to prison because some of the other charges carried a nine-year minimum sentence. In the time since the last parole hearing, Simpson did not have any incidents in prison that would cause the same parole board to suddenly change their minds about granting parole this time.
It is unclear how many people bet on Simpson´s parole hearing and very rarely do casinos or gambling establishments release information about these type of bets. However, there was the considerable buzz around gambling website regarding the upcoming parole hearing along with a slew of false information being given, seemingly to prevent the line from changing even further towards parole being granted. Gambling on elections and world events can be fun, but gamblers need to do their research regarding fake news that comes up at the last minute.
