5 of the biggest sports parlay wins of all time

Bob Riha, Jr. // Getty Images A parlay is the most enticing of sports wagers, offering the chance to multiply your earnings exponentially. But it’s a trap. Rather, parlays are huge winners for sportsbooks. The bet, in which two or (many) more gambles are combined, is popular among speculators and casinos alike. Instead of placing two single bets at even money, for example, you can combine them–and boost your potential payout. Your odds of winning, however, drop from 50% each to 25%, and when you stack bets to get eye-popping tantalizing figures, you have to win them all to cash in. The parlay has carved out a place in the minds of American sports bettors, who–until 2018–were prohibited from gambling on contests save for in Las Vegas. Now that sports betting has become legal in 38 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico, it has taken off. Casinos, as well as online bookmakers, are advertising parlays because they can make more than 30 cents per dollar wagered on them–about six times what they earn on straight bets. Single-game parlays, often touted by team and league broadcast partners before and during games, are just one iteration of the legged bets. These garner huge interest on social media, where squares, sharps, celebrities, and more share their triumphs–without much acknowledgment of the accompanying losses. To get a taste of this special corner of the sports gambling world, ATS.io compiled a list of five of the biggest sports parlay wins of all time, detailing the ins and outs of jackpots worth millions of dollars. Take a look and dream of what could be. $3.2 million MLB-Timberwolves parlay Tim Heitman // Getty Images Marco Piemonte earned the moniker “Million Dollar Marco” by winning multiple $1 million bets in a year. His crowning achievement involved three Memorial Day baseball games and an NBA playoff tilt the next night: the Washington Nationals (+110) to top Atlanta, the Colorado Rockies (+100) to beat the Cleveland Guardians, the San Francisco Giants (-135) to vanquish the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Minnesota Timberwolves (+120) to overcome the Dallas Mavericks. The Nationals cruised to an 8-4 victory, and the Giants won by the same score. And while the Guardians led 4-1 early, the Rockies scored six runs in the fourth inning of an 8-6 comeback triumph, ending Cleveland’s nine-game winning streak by getting to one of its worst starting pitchers, Xzavion Curry. That left the leg with the longest odds. The Wolves were trailing the Mavericks 3-0 in the Western Conference Finals, but they finished a game strong, with Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards holding off the homesteading Mavericks, 105-100. Dallas never led by more than four points, and Piemonte’s biggest parlay payout was assured. $1.6 million cross-sport parlay Dustin Bradford // Getty Images Six months before that bonanza, Piemonte won an even more improbable wager: a 13-leg parlay of nine football games and four NBA contests. He wagered $40,000 to come away with nearly $1.6 million. Rolling so many bets into one multiplies the risk, of course, but Piemonte mitigated much of that by gambling on eight alternate point spreads, such as the Las Vegas Raiders +25.5 at -572 odds. The other legs were money lines, and he had to sweat out the Denver Broncos (-130)–who needed a pair of second-half takeaways to get back in their game against the Minnesota Vikings and scored a late touchdown in a 21-20 victory–as well as Maryland’s threat to shock Michigan (-1200), with the Wolverines winning 31-24. The Los Angeles Clippers also needed a last-minute comeback in a close game to top the Houston Rockets, but that was the fourth leg, and thus the stakes hadn’t fully come into focus. This jackpot came with a caveat, too. Piemonte increased his potential earnings–but also risked cutting into the $1.6 million at stake–by hedging $500,000 on the last leg. If Kansas City had beaten the Philadelphia Eagles, who were getting 10 points at -408 odds in the parlay, by 7-10 points, he would’ve banked another $1 million. Kansas City led 17-7 at halftime but lost 21-17. $1.7 million horse racing parlay