No. 16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson University shocked the world when it beat no. 1 seed Purdue last week in March Madness. It was just the second time in tournament history that a No. 16 seed beat a top seed. One gambler seemed to see the upset coming and made nearly half a million dollars on FDU’s upset.
The bettor placed a hefty $33,000 wager on FDU to make a historic upset, and it made him a $495,000 net profit ($528,000 total). The bet slip, which was placed at DraftKings
DKNG,
-4.11%
online sportsbook, was verified as authentic, according to the Action Network.
The odds for FDU to win against Purdue were +1500, which carry an implied probability of 6.25% — meaning FDU had a 6.25% chance of winning. See also: Barack Obama filled out his March Madness brackets. See his Final Four here. Sports-betting operators like DraftKings and FanDuel are not shy about highlighting betting tickets like this, because these long-shot bets give hope to people who envision themselves as capable of hitting on big underdog bets. Unsurprisingly, there were at least a few bettors who posted screenshots or photos of their bets on FDU over the weekend. One bettor posted an FDU wager of $1,000 that led to $45,000 in winnings.
This person bet that FDU would be ahead at the end of the first half, and eventually win the game, with the odds of the wager being +4500, which carry an implied probability of 2.17%. Interestingly, this bettor made the wager with a “bonus bet” which means they wagered and won with a promotional bonus from DraftKings and didn’t have to risk any of their own money. See also: March Madness: Calipari tops list of highest-paid college basketball coaches Several bettors who wagered smaller amounts also posted about wagers they claim to be on FDU …