Huskies Fan Wins Nearly $400K in March Madness Betting

An anonymous sports fan had absolutely no doubt that his beloved Huskies would beat their opponents in March Madness basketball action last weekend, that he wagered a staggering $90,000 on the game. UConn met Villanova in the second round of March Madness, and although the latter was favored to win, the player had a gut feeling about a Huskies victory. The wager was placed at the William Hill sports book inside the Hooters Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas and the player initially laid out $28,000 on UConn to smash Villanova.  On the same day, however, he upped his investment with a larger wager of $62,000 – putting down a total of $90K.

Despite being the underdog, UConn won and the player was sitting on a $228,431.17 prize.

However, instead of going to collect the hefty cash prize, the player decided to let the entire amount ride on UConn’s Sweet 16 matchup against Iowa State on Friday.  Incredibly, the Huskies didn’t disappoint and once again, despite being the considerable underdogs, took down Iowa at 81-76.

The player’s initial $90,000 wager turned instantly into $480,000 – $390,000 more than he started out with.

Mashable.com quotes William Hill’s sports director, Nick Bogdanovich as saying: “That’s a man-sized bet. I’ve been in the business 25 years, and haven’t seen too many people request to bet that kind of money. It’s the biggest bet I’ve ever taken on college basketball.”

It is not sure whether he stretched his luck (and his belief in the Huskies’ ability to pull off a hat trick) and put the whole amount again on Sunday’s match between UConn and Michigan State.  The general feeling in the industry is that he didn’t – not only because his luck is bound to run out at some point, but also because he may have not found a casino to take a wager of that size.

“People think the books will take any bet and be risky,” notes sports betting journalist David Purdum of BettingTalk.com. “But that’s just not the case.”