Over the next three weekends, there will be no shortage of crazy March Madness bets – winners and, of course, a fair number of losers. But one bettor sparked the madness early, winning a quarter of a million dollars in the process. Learn more about this winning bet, a nearly $500,000 golf winner, notable parlay hits and other interesting games as we recap the past week’s bets. This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you register or place a bet, FOX Sports may be compensated. Learn more about sports betting on FOX Sports. Penn is more powerful With 3:19 left in Sunday’s Ivy League tournament final, Penn trailed Yale 71-65. With 12 seconds remaining, the Quakers were still down four at 73-69. Somewhere in the middle of those three minutes or so, a Fanatics Sportsbook customer got the urge to support Penn live on the moneyline. And I figured, why not add Purdue to upset Michigan in the next Big Ten Tourney final? And why not invest the considerable sum of $7,665 in such a bet? As you can see, Penn was a healthy +750 underdog on the live money line. This is mainly what allowed the odds for the two-legged match to reach +2365. The punter then used a profit boost promotion, increasing the odds to +3145, just over 31/1. The Quakers’ TJ Power stunningly hit two 3-pointers in the final seconds, forging a tie at 75 and overtime. Then Penn won 88-84. Purdue followed with an 80-72 victory over Michigan. The improbable parlay success gave the bettor a huge profit of $241,109.12, for a total win of $248,774.45. Madness, indeed. Young Gun With how great Scottie Scheffler has been over the past couple of years, some sportsbooks are getting creative in order to attract more action. For example: Fanatics Sportsbook offered a winning market on The Players Championship that did not include Scheffler. Such a bet has two ways to win: The first, of course, is if the golfer you bet on wins. The second is if Scheffler wins and the golfer you are betting on takes second place. One bettor hit big via the traditional first method, after putting $12,500 on Cameron Young +3750 to win the tournament. Young shot 3-under 33 on the back nine Sunday for a total of 13-under 275, beating Matt Fitzpatrick by one stroke. The bettor therefore pocketed a huge windfall of $468,750 (total payout $481,250). At DraftKings Sportsbook, a bettor got Young at +3,200 on a $3,150 bet. This produced a six-figure win of $100,800 (total payout $103,950). Not a bad sweaty weekend for these two clients. Triple Play A two-person negotiation is not so glamorous. But it’s reasonable, even if it doesn’t typically produce a six-figure salary. But a five-figure win on a $70 bet is nothing to sneeze at. On March 8, a FanDuel Sportsbook customer bet that amount on Josh Giddey of the Bulls and Russell Westbrook of the Kings to each record a triple-double. Westbrook finished with 23 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists in Sacramento’s 126-110 victory. Giddey had 15 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for Chicago. At odds of +23011, just over 230/1, the bettor banked $16,177.75. Bet a lot, win a little It is often said that death and taxes are the only certainties in life. Add to that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring at least 20 points every time he steps on the court. The Thunder star is now at 128 consecutive games of 20 points or more. Last week, Gilgeous-Alexander was tied for the record with Wilt Chamberlain, with 126 games of 20 or more. A DraftKings customer thought it was a no-brainer for Gilgeous-Alexander to get to 127 games Thursday against the Celtics. The odds were -1,620, meaning it took a $1,620 bet to win $100. The bettor went 10 times over, betting $16,200. It was an effortless gamble. Gilgeous Alexander had 21 points midway through the third quarter and finished with 35 in Oklahoma City’s 104-102 home victory. The bettor therefore pocketed $1,000 in profit (total payout $17,200). This may not seem like much, but the return on investment is 6.2%. Which isn’t bad for an investment of three hours. Another NBA Payday There were nine games on Thursday’s NBA slate. A Hard Rock Bet client focused on three of these games while creating a $100 parlay on 12 player prop stages: Spurs vs. Nuggets Lakers vs. Bulls Thunder vs. Celtics. Run these prices through an odds calculator, and it spits out +91700 (917/1). All 12 rounds got there, giving the bettor a big win of $91,700. Puck Luck I cannot advocate making parlay bets on 22 games. Even with a five or six inning bet, the odds are heavily in favor of sports betting. Thus, 22 legs significantly improve the bookmaker’s advantage. But if you’re inclined to do this, at least be realistic about how much you bet. Ten dollars is about right. On March 7, a Fanatics customer took two player props from each of 11 games – every game scheduled for that day – to create a $10 parlay over 22 games. Add all these odds up and you get a whopping +370030, or just over 3700/1. In other words, it’s probably not cash. And yet it is the case. All 22 steps were completed, with the bettor turning $10 into $37,013. Pretty incredible. Hoping you made it. One of the most popular weekly props for PGA Tour events is whether there will be a hole-in-one. With 100 or more players participating every weekend and these guys being really good, the odds aren’t really that long. But if you want to get more bang for your buck, you can bet on a specific player to record an ace, rather than just taking the whole field. Here’s hoping someone did this with Chad Ramey in The Players Championship. At DraftKings, Ramey was +8800 to have a hole-in-one, and he did it on the 13th hole of Sunday’s final round. A $10 flyer on this accessory would have brought in $880. If you were frisky and put a C on it, you would have won $8,800. That’s a serious return on investment.































