Sports betting has risen in popularity nationwide as more states have legalized wagering on major sports. The NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl remain some of the most bet-on sporting events of the year. One bettor turned a $5 wager into a “life-changing” payout.
What Happened: The NFL Playoffs matchup between the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers aired on Fox Corporation FOXFOXA on Sunday, Jan. 22 as part of Fox’s coverage of NFL games.
Viewership for the game was 34.4 million people. One viewer was likely among the most excited watching the game, despite the chance that he’s not a fan of either team and didn’t care which team advanced to the NFC Championship Game.
The 49ers won the game 19-12, covering the -4 spread for anyone who bet on them to cover or to win outright.
One bet was over before halftime and was likely among the biggest wins from the game.
A bettor placed a four-game parlay with FanDuel, a unit of Flutter Entertainment PDYPY. The bet was on the first touchdown scorer in each of the four NFL Playoffs games played on Saturday and Sunday.
Under a first touchdown bet, a user is betting on which player will be credited with the first touchdown of the game, among many options from both teams, or betting that no touchdowns will be scored.
The parlay combined the first touchdown scorer of each of the games, and to be a winner it had to be right on all four games or be a losing bet.
Related Link: NFL Playoffs And Super Bowl LVII Betting Odds, TV Schedule, NFL Picks And Stocks To Watch
The First Touchdown Parlay: The user bet $5 on the parlay and selected all four of the right outcomes for first touchdowns, which were:
Travis Kelce first touchdown in Chiefs vs. Jaguars: +600
Dallas Goedert first touchdown in Cowboys vs. Giants: +1200
Ja’Marr Chase first touchdown in Bengals vs. Bills: +900
Dalton Schultz first touchdown in Cowboys vs. 49ers: +1500
The $5 bet paid out $72,795. A video of the bettor celebrating after Schultz scored and made the parlay a winner has been watched by millions of people on social media. The user called the winnings “life changing money.”
“For anybody saying that’s not life changing. My loans are now paid off and I’m debt free. LIFE CHANGING. That’s all,” the user tweeted.
The user also turned down a cash-out offer from FanDuel of $1,393.56 after the first three portions of the parlay had hit correctly.
Kelce had 12 touchdowns during the season. Goedert came into the playoffs scoring only three touchdowns in the regular season. Chase had nine touchdowns in 12 games during the regular season and had scored in two straight NFL games, also scoring in five of the last six games.
Schultz entered the matchup against the 49ers as one of the most targeted Cowboys receivers. He scored two touchdowns in a win against the Buccaneers in the opening NFL Playoffs matchups with seven receptions on eight targets. Schultz was also targeted nine and ten times in the last two regular-season games.
The first touchdowns were scored by three tight ends and one wide receiver, which might be unexpected with running backs also being factored into scoring often.
The odds of hitting a parlay like this remain slim and can be more like a lottery ticket than a bet expected to cash. One bettor found out recently that even a 27-point lead isn’t a sure-thing bet after losing $1.4 million.
In the NFL Playoffs last year, one bettor turned $20 into $579,020 after correctly predicting the score of both Divisional Championship games.
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Photo: Shutterstock
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