We salute the creativity, the guts, and the glory of online sportsbook gamblers, who showcase the community’s common dream – the quest for the big one – with their bold betting habits.
This is njbetting.com’s periodic Wager Wonderland piece, gleaned from sportsbook operators who record unique tickets among the thousands of wagers they receive.
These NJ sportsbook parlay winners combine the worlds of college hoops, pro football, UFC, the PGA and the Hollywood Script of a buzzer-beating bucket for 10 Grand. In Triple Overtime. Let’s look.
College Basketball Cashout
DraftKings reported a $10 bet that became $10,000 on Jan. 24. This originated from an eight-leg college basketball parlay, all on the moneyline.
The winners:
- Notre Dame
- Stony Brook
- Albany
- Delaware
- Rutgers
- Coppin State
- Boston University
- American
The beauty about moneyline bets? No spread, baby. (How important an advantage is that? Ask anyone who took West Virginia giving 1.5 points to Texas Tech Monday night, in a game it won 88-87).
On this ticket, the teams only have to win the game once and that mattered. Like most collections, it was far from routine. It took a buzzer-beating three-pointer to turn defeat into victory for American University over Loyola. That brought a white-knuckled conclusion to an ambitious ticket.
The Breeze
- Notre Dame romped 73-59 against Miami
- Stony Brook blasted NJIT 56-44
- Albany throttled New Hampshire 83-69.
So far, so good. But it’s never that easy….
The Squeeze
Five games were tight. Three provided only moderate discomfort.
- Delaware outlasted University of North Carolina Wilmington 67-62
- Rutgers slipped past Indiana 74-70
- Coppin State slid by Norfolk 81-77
Sweatin Bullets
Naturally, there were two one-score games that produced those blood-pressure pills. And the image of a bettor pacing, watching the app or a TV if one could find the game, he/she bet.
- Boston U. nipped Lafayette 64-61.
Boston U needed Lafayette to miss a free throw to tie the game with 11 seconds left. Boston U added two free throws and survived a couple of three-point attempts that would have forced overtime. If Lafayette hits the free throw, Boston U does not get to the foul line and it must collect a bucket to win. This could have spelled overtime.
- American had the tightest squeeze, surviving Loyola 81-79. Or maybe it was stealing a win from Loyola.
A parlay ticket doesn’t get tougher than this.
The game went to overtime. Then it went to a second. And then it reached a third.
But the drama wasn’t settled until the final shot. American won by two points but it needed a buzzer-beating THREE-POINTER to do it. Jamir Harris scored a career-high 33 points, including the 3-pointer at the buzzer. When the shot was launched, his team trailed by one point. When the shot was in the air, this ticket was a loser.
But when it came down, it was a winner. This was the key shot in the $10,000 collection.
HIGHLIGHT | The 9th 3-pointer couldn’t have come at a better time. Jamir Harris wins it at the buzzer! 33 points and matches a school-record with 9 triples. #AUMBB | #BeAnEagle
📺 (ESPN+) https://t.co/DZ3FBjHnbo pic.twitter.com/nZe6GzO09z
— American U. Men’s Basketball (@AU_MBasketball) January 25, 2021
Whew! You hit seven games and, in the 8th, you need to drain a three to collect on the ticket. All or nothing, 10 Grand or zero, rides on ONE shot.
It often takes something this magnificent to nail an eight-leg parlay.
PGA: The Titanic 12
The PGA has been surging in popularity base for the books. Hole-by-hole, round-by-one, Top 10, Top 20 and individual foursome competitions dramatically expand the betting landscape.
So does the prospect of a lot for a little.
One DraftKings Sportsbook user turned $3 into more than $2,310 with a 12-leg parlay on the first round of the PGA last week.
Seriously? How well did THIS player know the PGA?
*All bets First Round Best Score Matchups (tie no bet)
- Lanto Griffin over Scott Piercy
- Sungjae Im over Russel Knox
- Patrick Reed over Gary Woodland
- Russell Henley over Talor Gooch
- Patrick Cantlay over Rickie Fowler
- Patton Kizzire over Keegan Bradley
- Chris Kirk over Denny McCarthy
- Cameron Davis over Lucas Glover
- Tony Finau over Matthew Wolff
- Joel Dahmen over Charley Hoffman
- Peter Malnati over Sam Burns
- Si Woo Kim over Nate Lashley
This could be a fertile future market for bettors. It’s tough to nail a first-round leader, but individual matchups can provide a sense of handicapping. Look hard enough and you can probably determine a built-in advantage for one golfer over another in a handful of matchups. If you want to expand the ticket, the money is bigger, along with the risk.
Alternate ideas: Hey, for $3 bucks, throw a four, six or eight-leg parlay into the mix. Maybe all three. They act as a hedge.
FanDuel: One Big Score
It doesn’t always take multiple legs to realize a financial bonanza. It can be one.
FanDuel Sportsbook paid out more than $2 million to customers who took part in a Dustin Poirier odd boost in UFC 257.
Poirier, an underdog of more than +300 against Conor McGregor, stunned the sports world with his second-round victory over “Notorious”, He was above +300.
Many bettors received a pleasant shock. With a FanDuel boost of +750 for a Poirier KO/TKO, a few gamblers cleaned up. A $50 max bet returned nearly $400 to many players.
But two reached into the thousands.
One gambler placed $1,000 on a second-round Poirier KO for a payout of a whopping $33,000.
Now THAT is guts and was deservedly rewarded.
One New Jersey player was bold enough to put $250 on that result and earned $8,250.
Upsets with big money attached pay enormously well and they should. You didn’t hear experts predicting a Poirier stoppage.
A good lesson emerges for everyone. In pre-fight coverage for njbetting.com, we mentioned the large payouts for hitting the exact round of a KO/TKO. It was big money for either McGregor or Poirier.
In the future, that’s a good consideration for both. Take the fight itself to end in a specific round. Payouts are less, but you are covered via both fighters.
Another FanDuel boost highlighted paydays in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ NFC conference championship win over the Green Bay Packers.
FanDuel customers were paid out more than $1.8 million as part of an Odds Boost that featured Mike Evans to Score the First TD +470 (max Bet $50).
- Big parlays Wins ….:
- $10 on a 6-leg Anytime TD Scorer for a total payout of $4,207
- Mike Evans +138
- Leonard Fournette +138
- Marquez Valdes-Scantling +285
- Robert Tonyan +153
- Cameron Brate +396
- Davante Adams -187
- $500 on a 3-leg parlay of Anytime TD Scorer for a total payout of $10,716
- Mike Evans; Leonard Fournette; Marquez Valdes-Scantling
- $5,000 on a 2-leg Anytime TD scorer for a total payout of $81,700
- Dawson Knox +330; Marquez Valdes-Scantling +280
- $10 on a 6-leg Anytime TD Scorer for a total payout of $4,207
And one final tip of the hat. Look at this ticket:
- $101 on a 6-leg UFC/NFL Money Line parlay for a total payout of $9,369
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers +158
- Dustin Poirier +265
- Makhmud Muradov – 196
- Joeanne Calderwood -130
- Michael Chandler +132
- Marina Rodriquez +310
These were savvy selections, representing four underdogs, two favorites and two sports. This was also a substantial bankroll. Note the prices on Poirier and Rodriguez. The bettor most likely had individual backup tickets on Poirier and Rodriguez, although we don’t know.
What a collection of winning tickets. The beauty of its review is that each one represents a story and a significant number of gambling decisions. It also requires a break.
The most recent dispatches indicate that big hits can still be made from small outlays.
How these tickets become sportsbook parlay winners is of interest to the entire gambling community. It’s the sizzle on the sports-world steak.
