It is easy to say this now {that a} 12 months has handed, however wanting again to 2025, some betting choices had been most likely… miscalculated.
Some examples:
This previous offseason, DraftKings reported that he guess $25,000 on the Las Vegas Raiders at 100-1 to win the Tremendous Bowl. Raiders will collapse very Not even near profitable the Tremendous Bowl.
Circa Survivor, a high-stakes NFL survivor competitors run by a Las Vegas on line casino, misplaced 102 entries this season after failing to submit nominations by the weekly deadline. The competition had a buy-in of $1,000 and a complete prize pool of $18.7 million.
Prediction market Carsi famous that one in every of its shoppers invested $183,954 in social media influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul to defeat reigning heavyweight champion and two-time champion Anthony Joshua. Paul suffered a devastating proper hand from Joshua in his knockout victory, leaving him hospitalized with a damaged jaw. Reside and study, okay?
This 12 months hasn’t been all unhealthy for gamblers. There have additionally been playing success tales during which sportsbook executives lamented to shareholders about “customer-friendly outcomes” and implored playing regulators to disable angle-shooting parlays altogether. Regardless of these setbacks, the bookbinding enterprise is predicted to outlive into the brand new 12 months.
As we glance again on this 12 months’s betting, we hope to make fewer miscalculations in 2026.
The boldest guess of 2025
January ninth: DraftKings bettors bid +43,473,946 odds on the 50 Cent, 19-leg school basketball parlay. All 19 groups lined the unfold. Seventeen of these members had been from smaller conferences resembling Stetson, Jacksonville, and IU Indianapolis.
He received $217,370.23 in a 50 cent parlay.
January twenty eighth: A DraftKings bettor guess $1,000 on Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza to win the Heisman Trophy at odds of 100-1. Eleven months later, in December, Mendoza received the Heisman Trophy with a web prize of $100,000.
February ninth: The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs 40-22 in Tremendous Bowl LIX. BetMGM prospects misplaced more cash on the Tremendous Bowl than some other recreation in any sport in 2025, in response to the sportsbook.
April twenty first: Sportsbooks started noticing an uncommon spike in residence run bets on Wednesday mornings early within the MLB season. The guess wasn’t on Aaron Choose or Shohei Ohtani. It was about Nick Castellanos, a journeyman outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies who turned the topic of web memes with a repute for hitting residence runs on massive information days.
“I began wanting round to see what was happening and realized that the Pope had handed away,” stated BetMGM’s Halvar Egeland.
Egeland stated BetMGM isn’t accountable sufficient for a house run flop to regulate the percentages, but it surely did in order that day, reducing Castellanos’ worth from +775 to +550. It by no means slowed down. By the top of the day, extra bets had been positioned on Castellanos to residence run than some other workforce or participant in any sport.
Within the Phillies’ 5-4 loss to the New York Mets, Castellanos went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.
June fifth: BetMGM bettors in Ohio guess $8 million on the far-favourite Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder to beat the Indiana Pacers within the NBA Finals at odds of -700.
The Thunder outscored the Pacers in seven video games, netting bettors a web $1.42 million.
June fifteenth: JJ Spawn, 150-1 by a protracted shot, received the US Open. Spawn had the longest odds of profitable since Phil Mickelson (200-1) received the PGA Championship in 2021.
June twenty fourth: BetMGM bettors in Arizona positioned three massive bets on the winner of the School Soccer Playoff.
$300,000 for 5-1 recreation towards Texas
$200,000 at +750 at Penn State
$115,000 for 13-1 towards Clemson
All three groups did not qualify for the CFP.
June twenty fifth: The Dallas Mavericks chosen Cooper Flagg with the primary decide within the NBA Draft. The Mavericks chosen Flagg at 500-1, the longest odds for a single futures guess supplied by DraftKings in 2026.
August twenty third: Getting into the school soccer season, North Carolina State, led by first-year coach Invoice Belichick, drew the identical amount of cash and a nationwide championship guess as Indiana at BetMGM Sportsbook. The Hoosiers completed the season undefeated and entered the CFP as the highest seed, whereas the Tar Heels went 4-8.
August thirtieth: A DraftKings bettor named the winner of all 15 MLB video games performed on Saturday and received $125,088.36 in a $5, 15-leg parlay.
August thirty first: A FanDuel bettor received $1,317.18 in a $10 six-leg parlay that included Florida State vs. Alabama straight up with the ultimate decide on standard school soccer star Lee Corso on School GameDay. Corso was retired from the present this 12 months.
September seventh: The Buffalo Payments made a outstanding comeback, defeating the Baltimore Ravens 41-40 in Sunday’s prime-time recreation in Week 1 of the NFL season. The sportsbook reported that this high-scoring affair resulted within the greatest win within the recreation for BetMGM prospects that 12 months. DraftKings stated in its earnings convention that the Payments vs. Ravens recreation was the most important loss in sportsbook historical past.
September eleventh: Caesars Sportsbook bettors risked $715,000 on +140 underdog Terrence Crawford to defeat Canelo Alvarez and received a web $985,000 when Crawford received by unanimous determination.
October fifteenth: A Massachusetts bettor at DraftKings positioned 27 parlay bets centered on the variety of hits by Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Rooks within the American League Championship Collection towards the Seattle Mariners. The bettor risked $12,950 for the possibility to win $934,147.83.
DraftKings advised the Massachusetts Gaming Fee (MGC) {that a} technical error allowed bettors to extend odds by incorporating Luke’s 5+, 6+, 7+, and eight+ hits into parlays throughout the ALCS. Rooks had 9 hits within the ALCS.
DraftKings advised MGC that it believes family members of the bettor had been among the many six New Jersey prospects who guess comparable parlays on the Rooks, leading to $1.8 million in wins. Gaming regulators in Massachusetts and New Jersey denied DraftKings’ request to void the bets.
November 2nd: One week after Nationwide Tight Finish Day, bettors at Caesars Sportsbook had 5 tight ends rating the primary landing of every recreation in a collection of parlays. 4 of the 5 (Theo Johnson of the New York Giants, Tyler Higbee of the Los Angeles Rams, Dalton Kincaid of the Payments, and Sam LaPorta of the Detroit Lions) received bettors, leading to roughly $111,000 in winnings.
“Clients can guess all combos of those 5 choices, wager $2.50 per leg, and doubtlessly win slightly below $2 million,” stated Joey Feasel of Caesars Sportsbook. “Though the bettor did not hit all 5, he hit 4 of the 5 and received greater than $111,000. It was an amazing funding for the bettor.”
December seventh: A Exhausting Rock BET bettor received a $1, 20-leg parlay that includes each school basketball participant below, leading to a payout of $344,902.81. +34,490,181 is the longest odds for a profitable parlay on Exhausting Rock BET so far, the corporate stated.
December eighth: A Fanatics bettor received the sportsbook’s greatest prize of the 12 months by betting $1.47 million on the Week 14 NFL four-leg parlay for a web payout of $1.86 million. 4 Legs: The Rams’ cash line towards the Arizona Cardinals. Inexperienced Bay Packers cash line towards the Chicago Bears. The Denver Broncos tackle the Raiders and the Pittsburgh Steelers tackle the Ravens (alternate line).
December 14th: One bettor efficiently predicted that the participant would rating his first landing in 5 NFL video games and a 10-cent parlay would flip right into a wage of $7,356.80.
ESPN’s Doug Greenberg contributed to this text.
