Every Sunday for the last four years, the Delaware Sports Lottery has offered sports bettors the chance to win $100,000 by selling 15-team parlay cards for $5. In order to win the $100K, bettors have to correctly guess 15 NFL winners against the spread. And not surprisingly, no one has ever done it, seeing as how the odds of predicting 15 NFL winners are 32,000-to-1.
This past weekend, though, one bettor almost did it. All he needed was for the Colts to beat the Eagles by more than three points on Monday Night Football. And if you watched the MNF game, then you know that the Colts were up on the Eagles 17-6 at halftime of the game and had a chance to take a two-possession lead late in the contest before Andrew Luck threw an interception that led to the Eagles tying the game and, eventually, winning it. It robbed Indianapolis of the chance to go 1-1 on the season—and robbed the bettor of the chance to win $100,000.
"It definitely looked like Delaware had a winner when the Colts were up 14 midway through the third quarter," Delaware Lottery director Vernon Kirk said yesterday. "Then to have the Eagles rally like that—and to win in the last three seconds of the game—it was agonizing to watch when you knew one player was so close to such a big payout."
You can say that again. To have the Colts come so close to winning (and covering!) and then lose must have felt like a kick to the gut for that bettor. Because instead of being up $100,000 right now, he's down $5. What a bad beat.
[via ESPN]
