Sicko
I live in one of the few states that doesn’t yet have legal online sports betting. It doesn’t bother me because even though I make a living, I’m not a big gamer. However, when I hear stories like the one I’m about to tell, it really makes me want to be able to bet five bucks on a wild game every now and then, just for fun. I wouldn’t win $5.5 million like that guy in Florida because he had to risk an insane $500,000 to do it, but it would still be fun to try every now and then.
Hard Rock Bet, which hasn’t even been live in Florida for a week, tweeted, “Who else cooked us?” while showing off the massive sweepstakes won by an anonymous bettor yesterday.
It was a four-legged game with the same game. To win, the customer had to hit on each leg. One loss and the whole loses. If a bump occurs on one leg, the bet is reduced by one leg and the potential payout decreases.
The person bet on the following:
1) The Houston Texans beat the Cincinnati Bengals (the Bengals were 5.5 point favorites)
2) The game is over 44.5 points
3) Texans RB Devin Singletary scores a touchdown
4) Singletary to run for 51.5 yards
It depended on the wire
Singletary surpassed the rushing yards mark by nearly 100 yards — he ran for 150 — and scored his TD in the third quarter. So those were in the books, but the other two games were left until the final minutes.
Houston led 27-17, making the total 44, and had the ball at its own 20-yard line with less than four minutes to play. However, Houston rookie CJ Stroud caused a sensation with a rare interception, handing the ball to Cincy at the Texans’ 30-yard line. Now the over was definitely in play and Houston would still have the lead if the Bengals scored.
And the Bengals scored a touchdown in two plays, leading the “overleg” to victory. Now all the Texans had to do was hold on. Leading by three on their next possession, they handed the ball to the Bengals at Cincinnati’s 29-yard line with just over two minutes left. They drove down the field and scored a game-tying field goal with 1:33 left.
Now to the mega-sweat of the weather. Things didn’t look good when Houston got the ball back, as they went incomplete through deep on their first down and only ran for four yards on their second down. This second down run often indicates that a team is content with overtime and does not want to risk giving the ball back to the opponent before the end of regulation time. But on third down, Stroud completed a 25-yard pass to give Houston life. Two more short passes led to 26 more yards and the Texans used their last timeout with five seconds left.
Then Matt Ammendola came in and hit a 38-yard field goal to win the game and increase the Texans’ record to 5-4, which will become the story of the NFL season.
And that, my friends, is how you win $5.5 million…assuming you have $500,000 you can afford to lose.
