One lucky bettor hit the jackpot – to the tune of $375,000 – after the Cardinals won the NL pennant and the World Series. Â Read more after the jump.
On Sept. 12, with St. Louis scuffling and seemingly out of wild-card contention, a bettor strolled into the MGM Grand in Las Vegas and placed two bets. The first was for $250 at 500-1 odds that the Cardinals would win the NL pennant. The second was also for $250 at 999-1 odds that the Cardinals – who were down to their last strike twice in the Series – would win the Fall Classic.
The first bet brought in $125,000 and the second brought in $250,000. The unnamed bettor can thankng St. Louis’ David Freese, or perhaps the Rangers’ Nelson Cruz, for helping him cash in.
MGM International said last week that the bets were legitimate.
Jay Rood, an MGM vice president who sets odds at 12 Nevada-based sports books, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that longshot bets are not that uncommon. The difference in this case was the amount of money bet on each ticket. Bettors generally put down $10 or $20 on bets at 500-1.
Rood told the Dispatch that the bettor wanted to bet even more, but “we scaled it back†to limit potential losses.
The betting slip for the Cardinals winning the National League has already been claimed, Rood said, and since the first ticket has been cashed, it is believed the same person would claim the second ticket.
The bettor’s timing could not have been any better as Rood said if the person had waited one more day, the odds would have been drastically lower.
Such longshot bets rarely hit. When the Minnesota Twins won the 1987 World Series, the team had been at least 500-1 during the season, Rood said.
When the St. Louis Rams won the 2000 Super Bowl, the team had been 300-1 early in the season.
Rood said when making the odds on the Cardinals he probably had too much faith in the Braves not collapsing and too much faith in the Phillies playing well in the playoffs.
“Looking back, I would’ve been a little more cautious about it,†he told the Dispatch.
