Sports Bettor Who Placed $50,000 Wager on Golden State Stands to Win $500

An enthusiastic sports bettor in Las Vegas put $50,000 on the besting the Utah Jazz in their Western Conference NBA Playoffs semifinals series.

Should the Bay Area team prevail in the best-of-seven matchup, the gambler stands to receive just $500. That s the reality of taking the huge favorite, and oddsmakers in Las Vegas have little doubt the Warriors will easily take care of the Jazz.

The Westgate SuperBook took the $50,000 wager on odds of -10000. In contrast, a $50,000 bet on the Jazz, that comes to an unlikely fruition on the SuperBook s +2000 odds, would reward the risk-taker a whopping $1 million.

Sportsbooks feel the Warriors are a sure thing to advance to the Western Conference Finals, but the games still must be played, and $50,000, is well, still $50,000. ESPN s Chalk first reported the NBA betting action.

As for the , the SuperBook has the Warriors at 5-12, followed by the Cleveland Cavaliers (7-2), San Antonio Spurs (8-1), and Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets at 20-1.

The reality is that it s rather unimaginable for most basketball experts to see the Jazz somehow outlasting the Warriors in seven games. They re already down one game after Golden State s 106-94 win last night.

Last night was great news for one sports bettor who reportedly placed a staggering $576,000 on Golden State straight up over the Jazz. The bet paid off, with the gambler netting $36,000.

If he or she had taken the Warriors on the points spread, the gamble would have lost. The SuperBook had Golden State giving Utah 13 points in game one, meaning their 12-point win wouldn t have covered.

The one-point win for the Jazz against the spread shows just how good Las Vegas oddsmakers are at setting lines. The sportsbooks and casinos will be hoping for the Warriors to prevail as expected, as many bettors are taking the long odds and taking a chance, albeit a big one, on Utah.

William Hill says 90 percent of its tickets on the Warriors-Jazz series have been on the underdog.

With the Warriors up 1-0, the SuperBook line has swollen to Utah at +3000, and the Warriors now at -20000.

ESPN s Chalk is a special sports gambling section of the website devoted to Las Vegas. Last week, the Connecticut-headquartered sports media group announced it was firing over 100 television personalities and journalists from the network.

A necessary component of managing change involves constantly evaluating how we best utilize all of our resources, ESPN President John Skipper said in a statement.

Numerous well-known front-facing employees were let go, but Chalk journalist David Purdum apparently wasn t on the chopping block. That could signal that ESPN understands the importance of covering the sports betting market as a growing movement to legalize the industry continues across the US.

Many gambling observers believe the time is right to repeal the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act that banned sports betting in 1992. American Gaming Association President Geoff Freeman recently opined, We re closer than at any point in the past several decades to making that a reality.