Gambling Guide
Millions of questions, millions of dollars: The mad bomber bettor is at it again
Jan 25, 2018, 8:54 pm
Nick Foles and the Eagles will be carrying a $3 million monkey on their backs. Philadelphiaeagles.com
The morning of Nov. 1, baseball enthusiasts and fans woke up with the anxiety of a World Series game seven matchup. One game for all the marbles, in a series many were saying was the best in history.
In the gambling universe, many bettors scrambled to get their wagers in for the biggest baseball game of the season. A sense of excitement and anxiety was also being felt, as gambling degenerates waited to catch wind of what the "Let it ride " World Series gambler was going to bet in the final game.
A perfect 6 for 6, after game 6 was his record in the World Series. The devilish things the unknown gambler did to casinos was sinister. Rolling over his winnings game after game and being on the correct side left the mystery man with 14 million questions prior to Game 7. His wager on game six was said to be 8 million making his bankroll somewhere around 14 million.
With the betting world waiting to hear his next move, millions of questions were still yet to be answered. What did we know about the mysterious gambler?
European
Had to spread out bets in different casinos
Under 30 years old
Experienced UFC bettor (some say he was undefeated)
With the casinos preparing for the massive wave of action that would at some point be hitting the line, suspense grew. After an eternity of waiting, finally, it was time, and the verdict was in. The Million Dollar "Let It Ride" bettor made his best bet yet, and chose to walk away. He took his winnings and wandered off leaving us in bewilderment. Now, what were we to do, make a bet on our own?
Let's fast forward
Known to be an elite UFC bettor, the enigmatic figure has resurfaced. In anticipation of UFC 220 last week, RJ Bell was the first to confirm that one of his trusted sources said they took a 100k bet on Francis Ngannou to win the heavyweight title. Things didn't go so well as the inexperienced Ngannou gassed early and the sportsbooks finally were able to claim a victory against the European conqueror known as the "Let it Ride" bettor.
The talk thus far leading up to the Super Bowl is the "Million Dollar Bet" that was placed on the Eagles. By now you may have caught word of the "Big Bet" placed on Philidelphia to win the Super Bowl. Several different stories are going around as sources are not giving out names or the bet amount. We heard it first from Jay Rood before it happened on The Numbers Game on VSiN Live. He stated that he was anticipating what could be his biggest bet in SuperB owl history, which was $2 million on the Colts in 2010. The Final score Saints 31- Colts 17 and the books cashed the enormous ticket.
On Wednesday morning, the MGM casino confirmed that a "multi-million" bet had been placed on the Eagles. They failed to specify if it was money line or on the spread and what the actual amount was. What we do know is on Wednesday afternoon, the line dropped from New England -5.5 to- 4.5. The money line odds at MGM properties also dropped from +180 to +170. As we discussed previously, the objective of the book is to generate action on both sides. With so much money coming in on one side the spread had to be adjusted accordingly in hope of welcoming Patriot backers.
Every day more information is surfacing and according to RJ Bell, the bet he placed was 3 million, which would break the all-time record. Not only that, but many are saying he is looking to get more action with other sportsbooks before the big game kicks off Next Sunday.
Stay tuned for another chapter as we take a ride on the wild side.
For any questions or comments follow me on twitter at @JerryBoKnowz
Most Popular
SportsMap Emails
Are Awesome
Listen Live
After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or nine games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after a 4-8 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez (though not Breggy Bad). A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.