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David Purdum
With 2025 now concluded, it’s apparent in hindsight that certain wagering choices might have been… ill-judged.
Several instances include:
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During the previous off-season, DraftKings documented a $25,000 wager placed on the Las Vegas Raiders, offering 100-1 odds for them to claim the Super Bowl title. The Raiders ultimately performed far below Super Bowl-winning expectations.
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A total of 102 participants in Circa Survivor, a significant NFL elimination challenge hosted by a Las Vegas establishment, neglected to submit their selections by the designated weekly cut-off this season and were consequently disqualified. This competition featured a $1,000 entry fee and an $18.7 million jackpot.
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The prediction exchange Kalshi observed one patron committing $183,954 on the social media personality turned fighter Jake Paul to defeat the reigning, two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Paul sustained a fractured jaw and was hospitalized, following a powerful right hook from Joshua that secured a knockout win. A lesson learned, wouldn’t you say?
However, the year wasn’t entirely unfavorable for bettors. There were instances of successful wagers that led sportsbook managers to complain to investors about “patron-favorable outcomes” or to appeal to gaming authorities for permission to nullify certain strategic parlay bets. Despite such challenges, the wagering industry anticipates continuing its operations into the next year.
Looking back at the year in sports wagering, we hope your decisions in 2026 are more accurate.
Notable Wagers of 2025
Jan. 9: A DraftKings user initiated a 50-cent, 19-selection college basketball parlay with odds of +43,473,946. Every one of the 19 teams successfully covered their respective spreads; 17 of these teams represented smaller conferences, such as Stetson, Jacksonville, and IU Indianapolis.
This 50-cent parlay yielded a return of $217,370.23.
Jan. 28: A DraftKings customer made a $1,000 bet on Fernando Mendoza, quarterback for the Indiana Hoosiers, to secure the Heisman Trophy, with odds set at 100-1. In December, nearly a year later, Mendoza was indeed presented with the Heisman, leading to a profit of $100,000.
Feb. 9: The Philadelphia Eagles decisively defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX with a score of 40-22. BetMGM indicated that its patrons incurred greater losses on this Super Bowl event than on any other sporting contest throughout 2025.
April 21: Early in the MLB season, on a Wednesday morning, betting platforms observed an uncommon surge in wagers for home runs. These bets were not placed on prominent players like Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani, but rather on Nick Castellanos, an experienced outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies, who gained an online reputation for hitting home runs on days marked by significant news events.
“We began investigating the unusual activity and discovered that the Pope had passed away,” recalled Halvor Egeland from BetMGM.
Egeland stated that BetMGM seldom accumulates sufficient risk on a home run proposition to modify the odds, yet they did so that particular day, reducing Castellanos’ payout from +775 to +550. This adjustment failed to deter the betting activity. By day’s end, Castellanos had garnered more home run wagers than any other team or individual athlete across all sports.
Castellanos recorded no hits in four at-bats, striking out twice, as the Phillies lost 5-4 to the New York Mets.
June 5: An Ohio-based BetMGM client wagered $8 million on the Oklahoma City Thunder, considered strong favorites, to defeat the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals, at -700 odds.
The Thunder ultimately prevailed over the Pacers in a seven-game series, resulting in a $1.42 million profit for the bettor.
June 15: J.J. Spaun, an outsider with 150-1 odds, emerged victorious at the U.S. Open. Spaun’s winning odds were the longest for any player since Phil Mickelson’s (200-1) triumph at the PGA Championship in 2021.
June 24: An Arizona-based BetMGM patron made three substantial wagers regarding the eventual victor of the College Football Playoff:
$300,000 on Texas at 5-1
$200,000 on Penn State at +750
$115,000 on Clemson at 13-1
None of these three teams qualified for the CFP.
June 25: The Dallas Mavericks chose Cooper Flagg as the first overall selection in the NBA draft. The odds for the Mavericks to select Flagg were 500-1, representing the highest odds for any individual futures bet provided by DraftKings in 2026.
Aug. 23: As the college football season commenced, North Carolina, under its new coach Bill Belichick, had drawn an equal volume of money and wagers to win the national championship as Indiana at BetMGM sportsbooks. The Hoosiers concluded their season undefeated, securing the top seed in the CFP, whereas the Tar Heels finished with a 4-8 record.
Aug. 30: A DraftKings customer correctly predicted the outcomes of all 15 MLB contests on that Saturday, achieving a payout of $125,088.36 from a $5, 15-leg parlay.
Aug. 31: A FanDuel client followed the ultimate selections of popular college football figure Lee Corso on College Gameday and secured $1,317.18 from a $10 six-leg parlay, which featured Florida State defeating Alabama outright. Corso concluded his tenure with the program this year.
Sept. 7: The Buffalo Bills executed an impressive rally to overcome the Baltimore Ravens 41-40 in the Sunday prime-time matchup during Week 1 of the NFL season. BetMGM reported that this high-scoring event represented the largest single-game profit for its patrons throughout the year. Conversely, DraftKings announced in an earnings call that the Bills-Ravens game generated the most significant loss in the sportsbook’s history.
Sept. 11: A Caesars Sportsbook client staked $715,000 on Terence Crawford, a +140 underdog, to defeat Canelo Alvarez and earned a profit of $985,000 when Crawford secured a unanimous decision victory.
Oct. 15: A Massachusetts-based DraftKings customer initiated 27 parlay wagers focusing on the total hits Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes would achieve in the American League Championship Series versus the Seattle Mariners. This individual risked $12,950 with the potential to gain $934,147.83.
DraftKings informed the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) that a system flaw permitted the wagerer to incorporate Lukes’ five-plus, six-plus, seven-plus, and eight-plus hit totals for the ALCS into parlays, thereby inflating the potential payouts. Lukes ultimately accumulated nine hits in the ALCS.
DraftKings communicated to the MGC its suspicion that a family member of the bettor was one of six patrons in New Jersey who also placed comparable parlay bets on Lukes, leading to a combined $1.8 million payout. Regulatory bodies in both Massachusetts and New Jersey rejected DraftKings’ plea to invalidate these bets.
Nov. 2: A week following National Tight Ends Day, a Caesars Sportsbook client included five tight ends to score the initial touchdown in their respective matches as part of a series of parlays. Four out of the five players — Theo Johnson of the New York Giants, Tyler Higbee of the Los Angeles Rams, Dalton Kincaid of the Bills, and Sam LaPorta of the Detroit Lions — performed as predicted for the bettor, leading to an approximate gain of $111,000.
“The individual wagered on every possible combination of these five choices, risking $2.50 per selection with a potential return nearing $2 million,” stated Joey Feazel from Caesars Sportsbook. “Although the bettor didn’t correctly predict all five, hitting four out of five resulted in over $111,000 in winnings. This proved to be an excellent financial decision for the wagerer.”
Dec. 7: A Hard Rock BET client successfully completed a $1, 20-leg parlay composed entirely of college basketball ‘under’ bets, yielding a payout of $344,902.81. With odds of +34,490,181, this stands as the highest odds ever achieved for a winning parlay at Hard Rock BET, according to the company.
Dec. 8: A Fanatics customer risked $1.47 million on a four-leg NFL parlay during Week 14, which generated a profit of $1.86 million, marking the biggest winning wager of the year for that sportsbook. The four components included: the Rams money line against the Arizona Cardinals; the Green Bay Packers money line versus the Chicago Bears; the Denver Broncos over the Raiders; and the ‘under’ total for the Pittsburgh Steelers-Ravens game (using an alternative line).
Dec. 14: An individual correctly identified the player who would score the initial touchdown in five distinct NFL contests, transforming a 10-cent parlay into a $7,356.80 payout.
Doug Greenberg of ESPN also provided content for this article.
