Needed to win every game
A sports bettor at an MGM Resorts International property in Mississippi struck pay dirt on Thursday, hitting all eight games of a parlay. The lucky person bet $900 on the multi-team play and won $131,200.
The picks were reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Most of the lines were not listed in the article, so for illustration purposes, we are taking the most common line from a selection of sportsbooks.
Not much drama in college games
All the games on the parlay ticket were American football games, four in college and four in the NFL preseason.
In college, the choices were Cincinnati (-2.5) over UCLA, Tulane (-3) over Florida International, Clemson first half (-24) over Georgia Tech, and Texas A&M first half (-20.5) over Texas State. All favorites.
Cincinnati and Tulane won their games easily. Texas A&M eased to a half-time lead of 28-0. Clemson, the defending national champs, had the closest call, also winning the first half 28-0.
NFL games down to the wire
In the NFL portion of the ticket, the bettor picked Buffalo (+3) over Minnesota, New York Giants (+3) over New England, Atlanta (+4.5) over Jacksonville, and Miami (+4) over New Orleans. All underdogs this time.
touchdown pass with eight seconds remaining to win 27-23
Miami won outright and Atlanta demolished Jacksonville, so those two did not require a sweat.
The real nail-biters were the other two games. Buffalo was losing 23-6 with less than four minutes left against Minnesota. The team was able to rally for three touchdowns, including a punt return and a touchdown pass with eight seconds remaining to win 27-23.
Similarly, the Giants were losing by 10 in the fourth quarter and ended up scoring two touchdowns to win by 2 (a two-point conversion was missed). The Giants were also losing by 19 at halftime. It took a 14-yard touchdown pass by Kyle Lauletta to Alonzo Russell with no time left for the Giants to pull out the victory.
Mississippi jumped on sports betting early
The Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi and Gold Strike Casino Resort in Tunica were the first two casinos to take sports bets in Mississippi.
Allen Godfrey, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, recently told Sports Handle that he was happy with how sports betting’s first year turned out. In the first twelve months, wagers totaled $300 million. Mississippi does not have mobile sports betting, just brick-and-mortar.
The total handle through July of this year is $157 million. While that is about half of last year’s amount in more than half a year, football season is just beginning. Football tends to be the most popular sport for sports bettors in the U.S.