Sports Betting on FOX Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\nTake a Free Ride<\/p>\n
This story begins on April 4, when Illinois met UConn and Michigan faced Arizona in the NCAA Tournament\u2019s Final Four.<\/p>\n
The FanDuel bettor, who goes by @Indiana_Cers on X, put together a three-leg parlay, starting with those NCAA Tourney tilts: UConn moneyline +136 vs. Illinois, Michigan moneyline -111 vs. Arizona.<\/p>\n
But those two outcomes would\u2019ve gotten only a nominal payout. So, to make it far juicier, the bettor added Lakers +50000 to win the NBA title.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That\u2019s 500\/1, in easier-to-digest terms.<\/p>\n
Better still, the customer utilized a $250 bonus bet for the transaction. Granted, those types of promotional bets are earned over time \u2014 and surely some losing wagers \u2014 but still, this parlay was basically a free ride.<\/p>\n
At huge odds of +224654 \u2014 just shy of 2247\/1 \u2014 the potential payout was a massive $561,635.<\/p>\n
UConn beat Illinois 71-62, and Michigan pounded Arizona 91-73. Then began the wait to see what the Lakers would do.<\/p>\n
Los Angeles was shorthanded in the first round, with no Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and mostly no Austin Reaves. But LeBron James & Co. had enough to beat Houston 4-2 in a best-of-7 series.<\/p>\n
However, that led to a second-round date with the defending NBA champion Thunder, who went a league-best 64-20 in the regular season and swept the Suns 4-0 in the first round.<\/p>\n
In Game 1 on Tuesday, the Lakers tumbled 108-90. That was L.A.\u2019s fifth game this season vs. Oklahoma City, and the Lakers lost all five by an average margin of 27 points.<\/p>\n
So it was decision time \u2014 take a chance on the Lakers somehow making this series interesting or accept FanDuel\u2019s cashout offer of $12,599.26.<\/p>\n
Said the bettor on X: “The white flag was waived.”<\/p>\n
So a bonus bet that took nothing out the customer\u2019s pocket became a nice five-figure boost to the bank account, which looked like an even smarter move after the Lakers dropped Game 2 125-107 on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Knicks of Time<\/p>\n
Entering the NBA playoffs, the Celtics had the best NBA championship odds of any Eastern Conference team, in the +500 to +600 range. But Boston bowed out early, blowing a 3-1 lead vs. the 76ers in losing the best-of-7 series 4-3.<\/p>\n
So that leaves the Knicks (+750) with the best title odds of the four remaining teams from the East. That has a DraftKings Sportsbook customer in a potentially pretty good position.<\/p>\n
The bettor put a relatively modest $67 on a seven-leg parlay that combined a bundle of sports: three MLB games, a hockey game, a soccer match, and of all things, a snooker match on the pool table.<\/p>\n
The first six legs are in, including Shaun Murphy over John Higgins in what was apparently a dramatic snooker battle.<\/p>\n
So now it\u2019s down to the Knicks, who already have a 2-0 second-round lead over the 76ers. Granted, there\u2019s a long way to go and should New York reach the NBA Finals, there\u2019s the probable issue of either the Thunder or Spurs waiting on the other side.<\/p>\n
But if somehow the Knicks run the table, with that ticket\u2019s odds of +82937 (just beyond 829\/1), that 67 bucks turns into $55,634.79.<\/p>\n
Even right now, the bettor could cash out for a few thousand dollars. That cashout amount will surely grow if the Knicks do as oddsmakers expect and reach the Finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll keep you posted.<\/p>\n
Hockey Hopes<\/p>\n
The Canadiens were +195 underdogs to beat the Lightning in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. But by stealing Game 1 on the road 4-3, Montreal certainly upped its chances to advance.<\/p>\n
The two teams traded victories over the first six games, setting up Game 7 in Tampa on Sunday. And the Canadiens claimed a second road win, 2-1, to close out the series.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s got a high-rolling BetMGM customer in a better-than-expected position. Before the first round, the bettor put $25,000 on Canadiens +1100 to win the Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n
At the moment, Montreal trails Buffalo 1-0 in a best-of-7 second-round series. That bet certainly has life, though.<\/p>\n
If the Canadiens manage to reach the Stanley Cup Final, then the bettor bags $275,000 profit (total payout $300,000).<\/p>\n
WNBA Plays<\/p>\n
The WNBA kicks off its 2026 campaign Friday, drawing some bettors to championship futures and player awards futures.<\/p>\n
At DraftKings, the New York Liberty are +220 favorites to win the title, followed by the defending champion Las Vegas Aces at +390. The Aces have won three of the last four WNBA crowns.<\/p>\n
Behind Caitlin Clark, Indiana is the +450 third choice in WNBA futures odds.<\/p>\n
But one DraftKings customer looked further down the board a few weeks ago, to a potentially up-and-coming squad. On April 4, the bettor put $1,200 on the Dallas Wings +8000 (80\/1).<\/p>\n
Leading the way for Dallas is Paige Bueckers, the 2025 Rookie of the Year. And the Wings took Azzi Fudd, another UConn standout, with the No. 1 overall pick in the recent WNBA Draft.<\/p>\n
So since that bet was made, the Wings have cut their odds by more than half, now sitting at +3000, the co-seventh choice to win it all.<\/p>\n
If Dallas indeed lifts the trophy, then the bettor profits $96,000 (total payout $97,200).<\/p>\n
Related, a DraftKings customer put $1,000 on Bueckers +2000 to win the MVP award. That bet could profit $20,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When making futures bets, it pays to have patience. An outcome could be weeks or months away. But…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":658860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,615,313633,724,313632,21944,5882,10109,590,85,121880],"class_list":["post-658859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-betting","tag-big-bets","tag-college-basketball","tag-fairplay-big-bets","tag-gambling","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-national-basketball-association","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-womens-national-basketball-association"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=658859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/658859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/658860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=658859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=658859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=658859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}