The former because parlay paydays are so attractive and the latter because parlays are so hard to win. According to data compiled by the UNLV Center For Gaming Research from 1984 to 2019, the win percentage Nevada sportsbooks enjoyed on parlays was over 30%, compared to around 5% for all sports bets combined. Inspired by enthusiasm for parlay wagering, as explored in a recent piece by my colleague Gary Rotstein, we’re going back 7 (More) Longshot Parlay Sports Bets That Hit For Big Money A breakdown of recent parlay wagering tickets — bettors who overcame long odds with multiple legs and raked in some major cash.
The bettor placed the $95 dollar parlay on Friday night, with the bet slip loaded with college football and NFL point spreads. When all 12 picks hit, the bettor walked away with a cool $285,000, one of the biggest wins ever recorded on any parlay. Double Trouble for sportsbook.
Underneath more than a dozen flat-screen TVs, there are 38 red, white and blue betting kiosks lining the walls of the sportsbook at Riverwalk Casino in Vicksburg, Mississippi. On March 8, what may be the greatest parlay wager ever to hit at a U.S. sportsbook was placed on one of them -- a $25, 20-leg bet that paid $104,412.44.
BetAmerica, the sportsbook operator for Riverwalk, said the parlay resulted in its largest payout since the book opened in August. Through the sportsbook, the bettor asked not to be identified.
The parlay featured point spreads, money lines and over/unders on a mix of Friday night NBA and college basketball games. The bettor backed 14 favorites, three underdogs and three overs. They all came through, but there were some close calls.
Their biggest sweat may have come in the first game listed on their ticket: Washington Wizards at Charlotte Hornets. The bettor took the favored Hornets to win straight-up at -200 odds. Washington guard Bradley Beal missed a potential go-ahead, contested layup with 3.6 seconds to play, and the Hornets held on for a 112-111 victory.
The ticket stayed alive when the Dallas Mavericks outscored the Orlando Magic 33-19 in the fourth quarter to cover a 6.5-point spread in a 111-106 loss and was completed with the Los Angeles Clippers' 118-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the final NBA game of the night.
BetAmerica vice president Alan Stremel said 20-leg parlays have been placed, but this was the first one to hit.
'We know players are excited about it, and the [Mississippi] market has been interested in parlays,' Stremel told ESPN. 'People like the potential payouts when putting it all together.'
Traditionally, 20-leg parlays have not been a regular offering at Nevada sportsbooks, and multiple veteran Las Vegas bookmakers and bettors struggled to recall any parlay with that many selections ever cashing.
'I've heard of 15 [legs], but not 20, not with us,' Bill Sattler, director of specialty game for Caesars Entertainment and a 30-plus-year Vegas veteran, said. 'Welcome to the business.'
It was costly start to the month for the Riverwalk, one of the new legal sportsbooks to open in Mississippi over the last year. In January, the five casinos with sportsbooks located in Mississippi's 'central region,' which includes Riverwalk, combined to win a net $457,000. The Riverwalk Casino lost nearly a quarter of that just as its first March Madness was tipping off.
'We look forward to the rest of the action,' Stremel said.
One BetMGM user threw down a meager $10 wager on a wild, 11-team parlay across multiple sports over the weekend and, miraculously, it hit.
Look at this beautiful madness:
Georgia Tech moneyline
Arkansas State moneyline
Appalachian State under
North Carolina under
Iowa State under
Army under
Duke +20.5
UTSA moneyline
Coastal Carolina moneyline
Yankees moneyline
Rockets-Lakers under
A $10 wager combining those 11 outcomes yielded a win of $152,341.28. Not too shabby.
College football underdogs, wild finish
Those college football moneyline bets came on significant underdogs, too. Georgia Tech (+12.5) and Arkansas State (+14.5) were both double-digit underdogs, but pulled off outright road wins over Florida State and Kansas State, respectively. Coastal Carolina was also a road underdog, but it blew out Kansas 38-23 late on Saturday night.
The three college football under bets all hit fairly comfortably, but the UTSA moneyline was a close call. Extremely close.
UTSA beat Texas State 51-48 in double-overtime in what was the most-exciting game of Week 2. The Roadrunners stormed out to a 24-7 halftime lead and appeared to have a victory sealed when Rashad Wisdom returned an interception 81 yards for a touchdown to put the Roadrunners up 41-28 with 3:24 to play. But that was when things got wild.
Texas State managed to force overtime by scoring two quick touchdowns. The second was a 91-yard punt return by Jeremiah Haydel that looked like it was going to put TSU ahead. Instead, Alan Oroza hooked the extra point and the game went to overtime with the score tied at 41 apiece.
Oroza’s rough afternoon only continued. After the teams traded touchdowns in the first overtime, Texas State settled for a short field goal to open double-overtime. Oroza missed again, this time from just 20 yards out. UTSA then clinched the victory with a field goal of its own.
A brutal outcome for Texas State was a big win for our parlay hero.
© Provided by Yahoo! Sports Arkansas State's upset victory over Kansas State was part an MGM bettor's successful 11-team parlay over the weekend. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
MLB, NBA close calls
And if nine college football picks wasn’t enough for this bettor, his MLB and NBA wagers both came down to the wire. A 10th-inning, walk-off sacrifice fly by Luke Voit gave the New York Yankees a 2-1 moneyline win over the Baltimore Orioles while the under 217.5 narrowly hit in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals between the Houston Rockets and Los Angeles Lakers.
The final score: 119-96. That’s a total of 215, 2.5 points under the total.
All in a day’s work.
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