The bettor who could have turned a $100 parlay into $1.7 million — contingent on the Thunder winning the NBA Championship — has cashed out for over $80,000.
His actual profit was less, considering he hedged slightly along the way. The values of those hedges are unknown.
The parlay by Wayne Shelton, a single father who owns a real estate appraisal business in Phoenix, consisted of the Rangers winning the 2023 World Series, the Chiefs winning the most recent Super Bowl and the Thunder winning it all in June. The $100 wager at +1714500 odds was placed with DraftKings in May of 2023.
The cash out occurred after the Thunder's come-from-behind victory in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals vs. the Mavericks.
The bettor could have netted far more by hedging more aggressively through each round — but liquidity would have been an issue. In addition, sportsbook limits likely would have complicated the substantial wagers he would've needed to place in order to hedge perfectly.
And yet, he wouldn't have needed to hedge altogether, according to PropSwap, a service that allows users to sell their sportsbook tickets. The company said the ticket after Game 4 was worth $201,717.
"We had plenty of buyers ready to purchase," the company said on Twitter. "Next time!"
🚨 THE $1.7 MILLION THUNDER BETTOR HAS CASHED OUT 🚨
(w/ @Ascended85@DKSportsbook) pic.twitter.com/0lXGadLF4L
— br_betting (@br_betting) May 14, 2024
The parlay had individual odds at the Rangers to win the World Series at 22-1, the Chiefs to win the Super Bowl at 6-1 and the Thunder to win the NBA championship at 70-1 — long before OKC was considered a potential contender, before Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was an MVP candidate. The wager was also boosted by 50%, increasing his total payout by more than $570,000.
Before Game 4, the cashout value was slated at $57,000. Shelton said the cashout dropped to as low as $10,000 during Game 4, in which the Thunder trailed the entire game until a few minutes left in the fourth quarter.
