Every summer, a retiree from Georgia named Greg Buonocore heads to Vegas, plays in the World Series of Poker and bets $5,000 a game on whatever he wants.
“I wire enough money down and that’s my allowance and the wife is OK with it,” says Buonocore, a retired insurance executive who runs a sports gambling investment company called Parlay Capital Holdings.
This summer, Buonocore went on a run. He won $27,000 during a poker tournament at the Wynn and seemingly couldn’t miss a bet.
“All of a sudden, I had a lot of money and like any gambler, I said, how can I put it in play?” said Buonocore, a New York Jets fan from having grown up in Queens.
He looked at the board at the Wynn and saw the Eagles at 22-1 to win the Super Bowl. His wife is a Georgia fan and the Eagles drafted Jordan Davis and Nakobe Dean. He’s an Alabama fan and the Eagles have Jalen Hurts and DaVonta Smith. And he says the acquisition of A.J. Brown put him over the edge.
“I wanted to put $10,000 down on the Eagles and they wouldn’t take it,” Buoncore said. So he went down to the Circa and bet $10,000 on the Eagles to win more than 9.5 games.
Then, he placed $5,000 on two separate tickets on the Eagles to win the Super Bowl at 30/1 — far better odds than he got at the Wynn.
“I split it up into two separate tickets so that I could sell out if I wanted to, just in case the team limped into the playoffs,” Buonocore said.
With a net of $300,000 on the line, Buonocore flirted with putting the ticket on PropSwap, but “I won the over bet so the degenerate gambler in me says if I lose, I’ll kind of break even.”
Buonocore isn’t going to sweat out the Super Bowl in peace. As is tradition, he is heading to Vegas with family — a group of 17 — to watch at the Encore sportsbook.
“We’ll pool $50,000 and bet on props for fun,” Buonocore said. “But I’ve never had this much on the line. I’m not going to drink so I can enjoy the moment, but if the Eagles win, the celebration is on.”
