Just a few million, no biggie
Per a report from ESPN, a DraftKings customer placed the bet of the decade, perhaps the century. Apparently extremely confident, this bettor placed a three-team futures parlay: the Green Bay Packers to take the NFC North, the Georgia Bulldogs to win the SEC East, and the Alabama Crimson Tide to win the SEC West. It’s not a crazy parlay, but the amount wagered sure is: $3 million.
Should the customer win, the lucky person would profit $5.6 million.
As I said, it’s not a terrible parlay. The 4-0 Packers are in first place thanks to revived, unstoppable offense so far. They are the odds-on favorite to win the NFC North right now, 10/19 favorites, or -335. Both Georgia and Alabama are in the top four favorites to win the national title. Each are their division’s favorites, as well.
But $3 million is still a hell of a lot of money to risk. It’s also a lot of money to have tied up for an entire football season.
Johnny Avello, DraftKings’ sportsbook director, told ESPN that it is the largest bet he has taken in his 30 years in the business.
Nothing like a 1.4% ROI
And then there was the person who bet $240,000 on the BYU game on Thursday. BYU was a 34.5-point favorite over the University of Texas-San Antonio (UTSA). But this person did not bet on the spread at the William Hill sportsbook at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Oh, no. This customer placed that wager on the BYU money line.
The profit that the bettor stood to win, risking $240,000, was $3,428.55.
And the bettor suffered through quite the sweat, as UTSA kept it close, but eventually lost to BYU, 27-20.
Every so often, I read about bets like this. Well, maybe not quite like this, but bets that should be easy wins, but would also have a tiny return on investment so as not to be worth it. ESPN says that some believe it has something to do with betting enough to get loads of comps at the casino, but that seems like a hell of a risk for something that’s, well…meh?
The other theory is money laundering. Now, if you’re thinking to yourself, “That seems like a conspicuous way to launder money,” gaming attorney Mac Verstandig would agree with you.
“If this were a laundering effort, it would be absolutely horribly done,” Verstandig said.
It is certainly a way to do it. Bet a ton of money on what should be a sure thing and then get your principle plus profit bet in a way that can be reported legitimately. The problem is that it would be a massive red flag.
The normal way to launder money by sports betting, Versandig says (take notes!) is for teams of bettors to place numerous bets on both sides of a game. This way, half will win and half will lose (obviously, pushes can happen), and they are willing to lose the vig in order to wash their cash. And hey, maybe they’ll get lucky and middle a bet somewhere.
Whatever the reason the person risked $240,000 is mystery.
