Big Bets Report 2025: Bettor wins over $500,000 with $50 6-leg investment

Bettors who got involved with any element of the Giants-Broncos zaniness on Sunday deserved some sort of reward at the end. 

Sitting on that roller-coaster merits some payback when the ride stops.

But sports betting is gambling, so it doesn’t always work that way. Still, there were some interesting winners in the wake of Denver’s stunning 33-32 comeback victory.

How about placing a $10 in-game wager in the final two minutes of that chaos, and having it turn into more than $1,000 in that short window?

More on that bet, along with major wagers and profitable parlays in NFL and college football betting this past weekend.

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Throwing Darts

You’ve probably seen and read all about it by now, but it’s still worth a recap. 

The Giants led the Broncos 19-0 through three quarters and were up 26-8 with 10:14 left in the game.

At DraftKings Sportsbook, the Broncos’ odds of winning got as high as +6000, meaning a $100 bet would collect $6,000 in the improbable event of a comeback. 

But come back, Denver did.

Bo Nix and the Broncos scored the next 22 points, capped by a Nix 18-yard touchdown run to take a 30-26 lead with 1:51 remaining. 

The Giants looked cooked.

But a DraftKings customer thought that was an opportune time to make an unusual wager: $10 on Giants rookie QB Jaxson Dart to score a touchdown, at odds of +11000 (110/1).

Sure enough — aided by a couple huge Broncos penalties — Dart dove in from the 1-yard line to put New York up 32-30 with 37 seconds remaining. And the bettor banked $1,100 profit (total payout $1,110) in just 1:14 of game time.

Denver then finished off the pandemonium with a Will Lutz 39-yard field goal to win it 33-32, which takes us back to those Broncos +6000 odds. 

Another DK customer decided, “What the hell,” and jumped on in with all of 50 cents: 

Sure, at 60/1, the customer only won 30 bucks. But you’ve gotta love that ROI.

Another notable, though not as far-fetched bet landed pregame at FanDuel Sportsbook. The customer put $50 on a three-leg anytime touchdown parlay of Nix, Dart and Giants running back Cam Skattebo.

Skattebo hit paydirt in the second quarter, giving New York a 13-0 lead. But the other two legs were a sweat. Nix had a 7-yard TD run with 5:13 remaining in the fourth quarter, pulling Denver within 26-16. Then, as noted above, Dart’s TD came on the penultimate drive of the wild game.

At odds of +4285, or about 43/1, the bettor’s $50 turned into $2,192.73.

Parlay Partay

OK, this one is almost impossible to top. 

At some point early last week, a Caesars Sports customer put $50 on the following six-leg player-prop parlay, mixing MLB playoffs with the Thursday night Steelers-Bengals game:

• Dodgers’ Max Muncy +500 to homer in Tuesday’s Game 2 vs. Brewers
• Dodgers’ Teoscar Hernandez +475 to homer in Game 2 vs. Brewers
• Mariners’ Randy Arozarena +525 to homer in Wednesday’s Game 3 vs. Blue Jays
• Blue Jays’ Vladimir Guerrero Jr. +390 to homer in Game 3 vs. Mariners
• Steelers’ Jonnu Smith anytime touchdown +340 vs. Bengals
• Bengals’ Tee Higgins anytime touchdown +215 vs. Steelers

All of the above happened, and Thursday night wasn’t particularly sweaty. Smith found the end zone less than five minutes into the game, and Higgins scored late in the second quarter of Cincy’s 33-31 upset win.

The prize for this bettor’s efforts: a whopping $574,925. Over half a million dollars on a $50 pilot bet.

Get defensive

Defensive and special teams landings don’t happen very often. The combination of successful exploits of such an event is even rarer.

But one DraftKings customer got there with $10:

• Browns defensive/special teams TD
• Eagles defensive/special teams TD
• Patriots defensive/special teams TD

On the first play of the second half in Cleveland’s 31-6 rout of Miami, Browns cornerback Tyson Campbell returned an interception 34 yards for a touchdown. Philadelphia linebacker Jalex Hunt caught a 42-yard INT touchdown in the second quarter of a 28-22 win over Minnesota.

New England capped the punt when linebacker Clavon Chaisson picked off a Cam Ward fumble and went four yards for a TD, the final score in the Patriots’ 31-13 victory.

At a factor of +18875, or roughly 189/1, that $10 became nearly $1,900.

Barlay Partai, Part Two

General betting fans still love their moneyline bonuses, where a group of favorites line up to win outright and hopefully turn a little money into a big sum of money.

But with the proliferation of player prop bets in the NFL, fans also enjoy collecting a group of scorers at any given time.

One DraftKings customer stretched 10 legs throughout the day, starting with Sunday’s Rams-Jaguars game in London and ending with Sunday night’s Falcons-49ers game in San Francisco.

By Sunday night, the first eight rounds were over. All a bettor needs is a TD each from Atlanta running back Bijan Robinson and San Fran running back Christian McCaffrey.

This is a very good position to be in.

Late in the second quarter, McCaffrey scored his first two touchdowns. Midway through the third quarter, Robinson hit the pay dirt.

The $10 bet had huge odds of +62012 – about 620/1 – but the customer also used a 33% betting raise, taking the odds to +82476 – about 825/1.

When $10 becomes $8,257, you know you’re having a great day.

Here’s hoping you have that

It’s not just about making big bets or cashing out huge money through 10 legs – which is rare. Sometimes it’s about putting $10 into one straight bet, backing a long or semi-long shot, and getting a great ROI.

How about getting out of bed for Sunday’s Rams-Jags game in London and deciding to put $10 on someone who has one career reception to score the first touchdown in that game? It appears one FanDuel customer did just that.

The Rams’ range was Konata Mumpfield +7500 (75/1) to score the first TD. Midway through the first quarter, Mumpfield did just that with a 5-yard pass from Matthew Stafford.

A little $10 turned into a profit of $750.

Mumpfield’s teammate, Davante Adams, also had a day, scoring three points in Los Angeles’ 35-7 win. Adams was +3000 to score three or more TDs.

If you put ten dollars on that prop, you would get $300. Or maybe put a hundred on it to spend $3,000.

I like big bets and I can’t lie

Big bettors in Vegas and across the country were betting big dollars all weekend long. There are certainly a lot of bets that cannot be recounted.

But let’s review a few of them, starting with the Week 7 NFL odds, on which Caesars Sports in particular has taken some big bets seriously:

• $339,000 Rams-Jaguars Over 44.5 points (Caesars). Los Angeles did its part, putting up 35 points. But Jacksonville was a near no-show, scoring just one touchdown. L.A. won 35-7, and the bettor made a massive six-figure donation to the house. Oof.
• $330,000 Cowboys -1.5 vs. Commanders (Caesars). Dallas rolled to a 44-22 victory, and the bettor claimed $300,000 profit (total payout $630,000).
• $275,000 Browns -2.5 vs. Dolphins (Caesars). Another rout, as Cleveland won 31-6, giving the bettor a $250,000 win (total payout $525,000).
• $260,000 Chiefs -12.5 vs. Raiders (Caesars). Yet another blowout. K.C. wins 31-0, and the bettor banks $236,363.64 (total payout $496,363.64).
• $200,000 Saints +4.5 vs. Bears (DraftKings). That’s another big donation, as New Orleans loses 26-14.
• $200,000 Falcons-49ers Over 46.5 points (DraftKings). The Over was never threatened in this game, with San Fran winning 20-10 and the bettor taking a $200,000 bath.
• $175,000 Colts +2.5 (-108) vs. Rams (DraftKings). Surprising Indianapolis wins 38-24, and the bettor profits $162,032.50 (total payout $337,032.50).

Week 8 college football odds saw their share of major bets as well, including:

• $100,000 Louisville +10.5 (-112) vs. Miami (DraftKings). This customer would probably like to change that wager to a Louisville moneyline bet, as the Cardinals upset the Hurricanes 24-21. Still, the bettor profited $89,285.71 (total payout $189,285.71).
• $100,000 Duke -2.5 (-115) vs. Georgia Tech (DraftKings). The Blue Devils were short home favorites, but lost outright 27-18.
• $100,000 South Carolina +4.5 vs. Oklahoma. The Gamecocks weren’t very game, losing 26-7.

Then there are those bettors who don’t mind betting a lot to win a little on a huge money favorite. For example, one Caesars client put $35,000 on Ohio’s money line -4500 against Wisconsin.

As the odds suggest, it was an easy night for the Buckeyes, who won 34-0. The bettor won $777.78. That’s a 2.2% profit.

But apparently it was enough.

On the other hand, Miami was not as much of a favorite compared to Louisville. However, at -550 on the moneyline, the Hurricanes were at least expected to win the game at home.

So, another Caesars customer placed $88,451.61 — yes, 61 cents, too — on the Miami Moneyline, for a potential win of $16,082.11. But the unbeaten and second-ranked Hurricanes never took the lead in a 24-21 upset loss.

This is an expensive lesson to learn. Keep in mind that these top players have the means to afford such lessons. Keep your bets and expectations reasonable. Never bet more than you can afford to lose.

Patrick Iverson is the sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and chief reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished national sports betting journalist. He resides in Las Vegas, where he enjoys playing golf in 110-degree heat. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickE_Vegas.

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