Tiger Woods' Stunning Win Cost Bookies Millions

One gambler won $1.2M
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 15, 2019 5:19 AM CDT
Updated Apr 15, 2019 6:38 AM CDT
Tiger Woods' Stunning Win Cost Bookies Millions
Tiger Woods reacts as he wins the Masters golf tournament Sunday, April 14, 2019, in Augusta, Ga.   (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Tiger Woods' stunning Masters win in Georgia on Sunday was a great day for the golfer and for anybody who can't resist a good comeback story—but a lousy day for bookies. A customer betting with William Hill in Las Vegas won $1.2 million with an $85,000 bet on Woods at 14-1, ESPN reports. "Pretty good first bet," says William Hill exec Nick Bogdanovich. He adds: It's great to see Tiger back. It's a painful day for William Hill—our biggest loss ever—but a great day for golf." This is believed be just the fourth time the company has paid out seven figures in the US. The previous three were all for large bets on the Eagles beating the Patriots in the Super Bowl last year. Other bookies also lost big-time, including FanDuel, which says it is out more than $2 million, NJ.com reports.

A New Jersey outlet of BetStars had a net loss of $360,000 on the Masters, and it would have been a lot more if it had listened to executive Matthew Primeaux's suggestion that the limit for promotional bets on Woods at 100-1 be $100 instead of $10, the Washington Post reports. "I believe my direct quote was, 'Guys, there’s no way Tiger is winning this tournament,'" Primeaux says. "Whoops." The win was Woods' first Masters victory since 2005 and his first major tournament win since the 2008 US Open. He is still listed at 8.5-1 to win the PGA Championship in May, meaning "sportsbooks could be set to take another bath" if he ends up with back-to-back wins, the Post notes. (More Tiger Woods stories.)

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