Sicko
I live in one of the few states remaining without legal online sports betting. It doesn’t bother me as, despite what I do for a living, I’m not much of a gambler. When I hear stories like the one I’m about to tell, though, it really makes me want to be able to put five bucks on a wild parlay once in a while just for the fun of it. I wouldn’t win $5.5 million like this guy in Florida did, as he had to risk an insane $500,000 to do so, but still, would be fun to try once in a while.
Hard Rock Bet, which hasn’t even been live for a week in Florida, tweeted, “Who else cooked us?” while displaying the massive winning parlay that an anonymous bettor won yesterday.
It was a four-leg, same-game parlay. To win, the customer had to hit on each leg. One loss and the whole thing loses. If there is a push on a leg, then the parlay is reduced by one leg and the potential payout shrinks.
The person bet on the following:
1) The Houston Texans to beat the Cincinnati Bengals (the Bengals were 5.5-point favorites)
2) The game to go over 44.5 points
3) Texans RB Devin Singletary to score a touchdown
4) Singletary to run for over 51.5 yards
Came down to the wire
Singletary beat the rushing yards mark by nearly 100 yards – he ran for 150 – and scored his TD in the 3rd quarter. So those were in the books, but the other two game down to the last few minutes.
Houston was up 27-17, so the total was at 44, and had the ball at their own 20 yard line with less than four minutes left in the game. Houston rookie sensation CJ Stroud through a rare interception, though, giving Cincy the ball at the Texans’ 30 yard line. Now the over was most definitely in play and Houston would still have the lead if the Bengals scored.
And the Bengals did score a touchdown in two plays, making the “over” leg a winner. Now the Texans just had to hold on. Up three, they punted on their next possession, giving the ball to the Bengals on Cincinnati’s 29 yard line with just over two minutes remaining. They drove down the field and kicked a tying field goal with 1:33 left on the clock.
Now for the bettor’s mega sweat. It didn’t look great when Houston got the ball back, as they through deep incomplete on first down and ran for just four yards on second down. That second down run often indicates a team is settling for overtime, not wanting to risk giving the ball back to the opponent before the end of regulation. But on third down, Stroud completed a 25-yard pass to give Houston life. Two more short passes turned into 26 more yards and the Texans used their last timeout with five seconds left.
Matt Ammendola then came on and drilled a 38-yard field goal to win the game, boosting the Texans’ record to 5-4 in what is becoming the story of the NFL season.
And that, my friends, is how you win $5.5 million…provided you have $500,000 you can afford to lose.