2025 Big Bets report: Bettor cashes out before 15-leg parlay eventually hits

Football season and March Madness are the signature times of year on the American sports betting calendar. The sharps and the public betting masses will gravitate elsewhere over these next few months.

But that will still lead to heart-pounding wins and gut-punching losses ,and sometimes both at once. That was the case this week, with a Hard Rock Bet customer’s 15-leg parlay.

More on that wager and other notable bets, unique wins and major wagers — winners and losers, alike — over the past week or so.

To Wait Or Not To Wait

On Tuesday, a bettor at Hard Rock put together a parlay buffet of Tuesday and Wednesday events. The first 13 picks were a combination of MLB games, NHL games and a pair of tennis matches.

Topping off the 15-leg parlay: moneyline plays on the Miami Heat to beat the Chicago Bulls and the Dallas Mavericks to beat the Sacramento Kings.

Grand total of the bet: $17.36. 

An odd amount, for sure, but it would pay huge if the lottery ticket got there. At massive odds of +315146 — or in easier-to-read terms, about 3,151/1 — the potential payout would be nearly $55,000.

The two NBA contests took place on Wednesday night. By that point, the first 13 legs were all in and winners. The bettor just needed the Heat and Mavericks to win.

But before those games tipped, Hard Rock offered a cashout of $8,211.

Turning 17 bucks into a high, four-figure profit is pretty good work. So the bettor accepted the cashout.

And you know what happened next, right? Yep, the visiting Heat beat the Bulls 109-90, and the visiting Mavericks beat the Kings 120-106. 

Oof. 

Here’s hoping that $8,211 took off at least some of the sting.

Ultra-Micro Betting

There’s in-game betting, and then there’s really in-game betting. 

In Tuesday night’s Memphis Grizzlies-Golden State Warriors play-in clash, a DraftKings Sportsbook customer made an in-game live bet on this two-leg parlay:

• Exact type of score that would include the game’s 166th point
• Exact type of score that would include the game’s 167th point

For the first leg, the bettor chose a Warriors 3-pointer and for the second, a Grizzlies 2-pointer. Both hit, at odds of +18000 (180/1), and that $200 became a profit of $36,000 (total payout $36,200).

It sounds way too good to be true, and there were many skeptics on social media. But DraftKings confirmed the bet via a short video on X:

That’s about as fortuitous as one could get. And for pretty much all of us, it’s the fastest $36,000 ever made.

Tax Day Trend

Make sure to note this on your 2026 calendar: The Tampa Bay Rays do not win games played on April 15. 

Tampa Bay has lost 11 straight when playing on Tax Day, dating to April 15, 2012.

In two of those seasons — 2014 and 2019 — the Rays were off on April 15. And in 2020, nobody was playing due to COVID. But if Tampa has an April 15 game, then you can pretty much count on a loss.

On Tuesday, the Rays gave up six runs in the first five innings en route to a 7-4 home loss to the Boston Red Sox.

Home Run Derby

On Tuesday, a FanDuel Sportsbook customer put together a $50 four-leg, home-run parlay:

• Jonathan Aranda +520 to homer for the Rays, vs. the Red Sox
• Tyler Soderstrom +400 to homer for the A’s, vs. the White Sox
• Pete Alonso +350 to homer for the Mets, vs. the Twins
• Yordan Alvarez +390 to homer for the Astros, vs. the Cardinals

Add all that up, and you’ve got odds of +68255, or about 683/1.

All four players delivered home runs, turning that fifty bucks into $34,177. 

Not a bad day’s work, if you can get it.

I Like Big Bets And I Cannot Lie

The NBA playoffs start this weekend, but one bettor couldn’t wait that long to drop a major wager. 

On Wednesday, a BetMGM customer put $200,000 on Heat moneyline +105 vs. Bulls in the Play-In round.

As noted above, Miami rolled to a 109-90 victory. So the bettor doubled up and then some, profiting $210,000 (total payout $410,000).

And how about a couple of relatively smaller bets but with five-figure payouts?

At Caesars Sports, a customer put $205.15 (yes, 15 cents, too) on an exact NBA Finals result of the Cleveland Cavaliers beating the Los Angeles Clippers. At odds of +20000 (200/1), if that happens, then the bettor profits a healthy $41,030 (total payout $41,235.15).

Also at Caesars, a customer in Puerto Rico is already on Luka Dončić to win NBA Finals MVP, at odds of +2500.

The Los Angeles Lakers will have to survive a gauntlet in the West, then beat whoever comes out of the East, with the Cavaliers and Boston Celtics the most likely opponents.

But if Dončić ultimately gets that hardware, then the bettor pockets $37,500 in profit (total payout $39,000).

Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on X: @PatrickE_Vegas.

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