A punter parlayed a Super Bowl prop bet last week that paid out more than 500 times his original wager.
He only put down $2.00 on the bet, but even this small amount brought him a windfall of $1,131.58.
This highly-unlikely bet involving a man we’ll call Joe could quite easily have been taken by one of New Jersey’s nine sportsbooks.
As it was, it was taken by the Canadian online sportsbook Bovada – by a Canadian citizen, we hope.
The US Federal wire act prohibits US residents from making sports wagers with sportsbooks outside their state.
But to get back to prop betting on the Super Bowl. It’s always been exciting, but when you parley the bet, some truly amazing things can happen.
In this case, Joe decided to place low-risk $2 parlay bet that didn’t seem to stand a chance. This not even as separate prop bets, let alone as a parley bet combining the two.
Parlay bet had only a 0.18% chance of winning
His parlay wager, which consisted of just two prop bets, stood only a 0.18 percent chance of winning.
To start with Joe bet that the Patriots legendary quarterback Tom Brady would throw an interception on his first pass. Now, who would expect that from a seasoned star who had won five Super Bowls?
For the 2nd part of his parley, Joe wagered that the total number of touchdowns scored in the first half would be zero.
Nobody expected that either. Not in a game most thought would be a high-scoring battle between two of the NFL’s top offenses.
They were all wrong and Joe was right. Brady’s New England Patriots beat the LA Rams 13-3 and the only touchdown came late in the second half.
The odds of Brady throwing an interception with his first pass were set at 26/1 (+2599). And the odds on both teams going without a touchdown in the first half were 20-to-1 (+2000).
Parley bets consist of two or more bet which must all be won so when they are made the odds rocket, depending on the number of parlays.
In this case, Joe got odds of 565/1 (+56,579) if both his bets came off. And yes, they did – in spectacular fashion.
The $2 bet was relatively risk-free to be sure, but Joe may just be regretting the fact that he did not stake a little more.
Ten dollars would have earned him $5,650 and $100 the princely sum of $56,500.
Mind you, in most cases risking $100 on this kind of bet would lose you money.
