A casino owner in Downtown Las Vegas is placing a large bet on March Madness.
If Michigan wins this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Derek Stevens, the owner of The D Las Vegas and Golden Gate Casino, could potentially win over $1 million.
Stevens, who graduated from the University of Michigan, wagered $12,500 on the Wolverines to emerge victorious in the National Championship. He placed this bet at the Golden Nugget Las Vegas, which is located up Fremont Street from his two properties.
Long odds on the Wolverines
At the time Stevens placed the bet, Golden Nugget was giving 80-to-1 odds on a Michigan victory.
It appears that the owner of Golden Nugget, Tilman Fertitta, personally approved the bet.
The bet would reportedly yield a payout of $1,012,500 if Michigan wins, as per the payout slip shared on Stevens’ Twitter account. If this happens, it would allegedly be the biggest payout ever made by Golden Nugget’s sports book.
Sports bet goes viral
The tale of Stevens’ bet has spread rapidly on the internet. News outlets nationwide, such as the Las Vegas Sun, Las Vegas Review-Journal, The Detroit Free Press, and The Denver Post, are covering the story.
Sweet 16 starts this weekend
After upsetting No. 2 seed Louisville on Sunday and beating Oklahoma State last Friday, seventh-seeded Michigan has already advanced to the Sweet 16. Consequently, the Big Ten Conference championship team has been established as favorites over the higher-seeded Oregon in the upcoming Sweet 16 game this Thursday.
Stevens placed a bet of $11,000 on each of the initial 32 games of the tournament. He made these bets during a live broadcast on VSIN.com, alongside renowned sportscaster Brent Musburger. Despite this, his record stood at 10-19-3, resulting in a loss of $109,000.
Reports suggest that the odds for Michigan to win the tournament have now dropped to 18-1, going into this weekend’s NCAA tournament action. This is significantly lower than the 80-1 odds that Stevens had secured.
The remaining March Madness field
The Sweet 16 starts on Thursday and carries on into Friday. This is followed by the Elite Eight, starting on Saturday and ending on Sunday, when the Final Four is determined. The Final Four event takes place in Phoenix, AZ from April 1-3, with the Championship game scheduled for April 3.
Stevens will win the bet if Michigan secures just four more victories. Should Michigan triumph over Oregon, they will then compete against the victor of the game between the Kansas Jayhawks and Purdue University Boilermakers.
Apart from Michigan and Oregon, the Sweet 16 features the following teams (with their seedings in parentheses):
- (8) Wisconsin
- (4) Florida
- (7) South Carolina
- (3) Baylor
- (1) Kansas
- (4) Purdue
- (4) West Virginia
- (1) Gonzaga
- Xavier, who is 11 years old,
- (2) Arizona
- (1) North Carolina
- Butler Four
- University of California, Los Angeles (3)
- (2) Kentucky
The games this weekend will take place in New York, NY, Kansas City, MO, Memphis, TN, and San Jose, CA.
Every year, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, a single-elimination competition, features 68 Division I college basketball teams from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) battling it out to become the National Champion.
In 2016, the Villanova Wildcats secured the National Championship title by defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels 77-74 in the final game.
Image sourced from: Richard Paul Kane / Shutterstock.com
