Biggest athlete gamblers
doubledragon
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Athletes who love to gamble?
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Jordan is obviously the first guy that comes to mind, he would bet on anything. Here is a fascinating story that Scottie Pippen recently told about how Jordan would bet on who's luggage would be pulled first at the airport, and also how Jordan would bet on the cartoon Bulls racing on the Chicago jumbotron, and Jordan would cheat to win these bets.
Scottie Pippen Called Out Michael Jordan For Cheating On Bets
In the history of American sports, few dynamic duos found more success than Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. During their time with the Chicago Bulls, MJ and Pip brought home six NBA championships.
On top of his willingness to win NBA games,
During a recent appearance on The Dan LeBatard Show, Jordan is notorious for being a competitive gambler and has even been accused of cheating to win random prop bets.
Pippen said Jordan has cheated on some bets and won others through purchased or reputational advantages during an appearance on The Dan Le Batard Show.
“I will say that he cheated on a few of his bets,” Pippen said.
Pippen did not give any specific examples of when Jordan cheated. However, there was an alleged incident where Jordan betted Pippen $100 on the outcome of pre-recorded animated Bull races during games on the Chicago Stadium jumbotron.
Jordan would ask the Bulls’ operations staff before each game which color bull would win the race that night and then use this information to trick Pippen into a losing bet, according to Amin Elhassan of ESPN.
He would also apparently bet his teammates hundreds of dollars on who’s luggage would get pulled out first by airport staff, according to a story by Bill Simmons in ESPN The Magazine. Pippen disputed a report that Jordan bribed luggage handlers, but confirmed Jordan gave himself a unique advantage in the race to get his luggage pulled out first.
“Michael Jordan had his own beautiful bags,” Pippen said. “At this time, we didn’t have team bags, so when you saw a bag come off and it had a Jumpman on it, I’m sure for the guys working at the airport, that was the first bag they grabbed. So he had an advantage, but I don’t think it was something he intentionally did. It was just a knowing thing that he knew people were going to jump on his bag.”
pete rose?
Yes, of course, the definition of gambling.
Sir Charles Barkley.
Charles Barkley’s Addiction Has Cost Him Over $10 Million
It’s no secret that NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley has a gambling habit, reports ESPN. But most don’t know it’s cost him over $10 million.
Athletes are more susceptible to gambling problems. Why? Most experts believe players who become pathological gamblers fall victim to their competitive nature, which has the potential to “spill over” into an athlete’s personal life.
Barkley is not alone. Gambling problems also affected Michael Jordan, who got into trouble by wagering extreme amounts on golf. Recently, England put a worldwide ban on gambling and betting for many English football athletes as a solution to combat corruption within the game.
While Barkley has never admitted to or been caught gambling on sports teams he actively represented, he does admit to suffering huge losses. Barkley estimates that he’s likely lost $1 million on gambling at least 30 times.
Charles Barkley’s gambling addiction
In a 2007 interview, Barkley admitted to winning “about $700,000” over the weekend from playing blackjack and betting on the Super Bowl. The former power forward had bet on the underdog Colts, who defeated the Bears, 29–17.
In an earlier 2006 interview with ESPN, Barkley admitted that his gambling habit had cost him $2.5 million “in a six-hour period” one night. Even then, the NBA legend said he’d lost over $10 million over the years. Although his gambling addiction was costing him millions, Barkley seemed to be in denial:
“It’s a stupid, bad habit. I have a problem … But the problem is when you can’t afford it. I can afford to gamble. I didn’t kill myself when I lost two and half million dollars. I like to gamble and I’m not going to quit.”
Today, Barkley is a sports broadcaster, but for an athlete who averaged 22.1 points and nearly 12 rebounds in a 16-year career, his gambling addiction only got worse.
Barkley was sued by the Wynn Las Vegas Casino for failing to pay $400,000 in gambling loans (markers). He repaid his debt as well as a hefty $40,000 in attorney fees. Barkley took a two-year break from gambling, picking up golf and playing with the likes of Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan.
How gambling changed Barkley’s life
Over the years, Barkley’s gambling losses went from $10 million to over $30 million. It was likely the loss of self-control and public backlash — not cash — that caused him to face his gambling addiction. After all, so many good causes could benefit from even a small portion of that money.
So what changed in Barkley’s life? While he admits he still gambles, he does it in moderation. He won’t let it go completely, according to AZ Central. “I love it,” he said. “I love the action, I love the juice. But I just learned to do it in moderation.”
We can agree that one man’s definition of moderation is another man’s excess. What else has changed in Barkley’s gambling life? His self-confessed secret to staying out of gambling debt is to quit while you’re ahead.
Alex Rodriguez.
Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez’s off-the-wall antics made him famous not only for playing third baseman and shortstop for the New York Yankees. A-rod also made himself famous for gambling in sports issues when he made headlines for participating in an illegal poker ring with some of Hollywood’s most well-known actors. According to reports, Rodriguez played underground high stakes poker with movie stars like Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Tobey Maguire. These games allegedly took place in a Beverly Hills mansion and would usually have a $40,000 buy in. But that’s hardly a dent in the wallet for a guy who made $20 million a year.
about 5 years ago i was sitting at a table during march madness when barkley came and sat down. he was trying to watch the game and play $5k hands at the same time. wasnt paying attention to the cards at all (focused more on watching final quarter of the bball game) and made some of the dumbest moves i have ever seen at a blackjack table. yes, he won his $50k on the bball game but prolly lost 60k at the table. best part is the last hand he doubled down on a 12, dealer showing a 6 and busted. dealer busted on the next card. he then scurried off to make another bball bet.
pretty boy floyd pretty much gambles on anything!
Jaromir Jagr lost a lot of money to online casinos.
Czech-born Jaromir Jagr is the most productive European player who ever played in the NHL. During his career, he has won the Stanley Cup, Ice Hockey World Championships and the Olympic gold medal, ending up as one of 28 players in the Triple Gold Club.
His incredible career as a hockey player was somewhat clouded by his immense losses at online gambling sites as well as massive debts he incurred toward the IRS that once claimed over $3,000,000 in back taxes from the player.
Jagr accumulated his massive gambling debts at two online casinos over the course of several years but was unable to pay the entire amount at once. Since he hadn’t made any payments for some time, casinos eventually broke the story to the press and made the player eventually pay his debts.
Yes, Floyd is a very big gambler!
Like Blurry said, Floyd Mayweather is a bigtime gambler, sometimes he wins big, sometimes he loses big.
Floyd Mayweather’s Gambling Habits Have Cost Him Millions
Floyd Mayweather Jr. is one of the richest athletes in America, with an estimated net worth of at least $560 million, thanks to years of him being the top-drawing attraction in boxing. Having that much money can be dangerous for someone like Mayweather, though, because he has a well-known gambling habit.
With being worth more than half a billion dollars, Mayweather can afford to make bets and not go broke if he loses, but with some of the big-money bets he makes, losing bets can cause his net worth to take a significant hit — to the tune of millions of dollars.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s gambling habit
It’s no secret that Floyd Mayweather likes to gamble. He has shared details of his bets with fans on social media over the years, and he almost bet on himself. There was speculation that he bet $400,000 on himself to beat UFC star Conor McGregor in their bout, but Mayweather decided not to place the bet after growing frustrated with the sportsbook doing legal checks on his potential bet.
It is not uncommon for Mayweather to place six-figure bets — or even gamble $1 million or more on a single bet. But when your net worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars, betting those amounts won’t necessarily break your bank.
Some of Floyd Mayweather’s famous bets
More money is probably bet on the Super Bowl every year than any other sporting event in the country — and Floyd Mayweather is known for betting a lot of that money.
Perhaps the boxer’s most famous bet came at Super Bowl XLVIII, when he reportedly placed bets totaling $13 million. Because of the amount of money he wagered, Mayweather allegedly had to make the bets with seven different agencies. The reported bets didn’t go in Mayweather’s favor, with him reportedly betting $10.4 million on the Broncos -2 and $2.6 million on the Broncos -0.5; the Broncos lost to the Seahawks in a blowout, 43-8.
Mayweather denied placing those bets. In 2012, Mayweather posted a social media about wagering $1.1 million on a college football game. He took Oregon -7.5 over Arizona State. The Ducks won the game 43-21 to cover the spread, and Mayweather later confirmed that the win secured him a $1 million profit.
In 2015, Mayweather boasted about betting $815,000 on the Broncos to beat the Jets, with a 7.5-point spread. Denver won the game 31-17, securing Mayweather a profit of more than $600,000.
Notable gambling losses
While Floyd Mayweather does sometimes hit it big and make a sizable profit in his bets, you can see from his alleged Super Bowl XLVIII bet that he also manages to lose big chunks of money with bets that go the wrong way for him. And if news reports are to be believed, 2017 may have been the boxer’s worst year ever for his gambling habit.
In 2018, he announced he was coming out of retirement to have a rematch with Pacquiao. That never happened, and his 2017 fight with McGregor remains the last match he has had. But when Mayweather announced his intention to fight Pacquiao a second time, speculation was that it was because he wanted to make up for gambling losses that he incurred.
There were news reports in September 2018 that, according to “gambling sources” in Vegas, Mayweather was “down over $50 million in gambling losses since 2017.” If that was true, then another Pacquiao fight would have been a nice financial boost for Mayweather, who wrote on social media that “another 9 figure payday” would be on the way when he announced plans for the Pacquiao rematch.
It seems like most people, Mayweather likes to highlight his big wins and not talk about or even deny his losses. Losing $50 million in a year is enough to make just about anyone’s net worth take a hit. Taking a break from gambling would probably do his wallet some good.
Floyd Mayweather likes to post his gambling receipts online a lot, here are a few.
More Floyd receipts for big bets.
Antoine Walker got ruined from gambling. John Daley loves his action too
kobe used to bet during games. theres a clip somewhere where he bet another player $100k at the foul line.
eta: actually it was $500k w gerald wallace. i would post the vid but it has a lil nsfw trash talking in it.
Tiger Woods is another gambler, he likes blackjack! Here is an article about him from a while back, and Phil Hellmuth commented on him.
Tiger Woods is easily one of the greatest golfers of all time, having won 14 Majors and 79 PGA tournaments. But did you know that he’s also a great blackjack player too?
Famed poker pro Phil Hellmuth discussed Woods’ blackjack acumen in a recent interview with Golf Digest. And, according to the following excerpt, it sounds like Woods knows even more about blackjack than Hellmuth:
“Tiger is excellent at blackjack. He bears down a little bit, pays attention, and plays perfect basic strategy. He takes his losing hands well and doesn’t get upset, though you do see that extra bit of focus at times. I remember having a 13 against the dealer’s 2 and not being sure what to do. Tiger immediately told me to stand—and he was right. It’s the correct play. I said, “Aren’t you supposed to be a dumb golfer?”
“He cracked up. I remember that Tiger won big that night. I’m not going into the number. But if I say big, of course it was six figures.”
It should be little surprise that Woods is a blackjack expert because he’s been playing the game for a long time.
The Las Vegas Review Journal once did a feature on Woods’ high roller play. And a Vegas VIP host told the paper that Tiger was playing for the type of money that Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley play for.
“That’s when he started stepping it up. He started playing bigger and bigger,” said the host. “Really large. How about I just say Jordan’s level? He’s definitely firing at Jordan and Barkley’s level.
“And I’ll tell you this, he’s a really good blackjack player,” the VIP host said, adding that Woods has won over $1 million in several sessions.
Stories have pegged Woods as betting between $25,000 and $200,000 per hand whenever he plays blackjack. So it’s certainly not hard to see him walking away with a few million-dollar wins at this rate. Even if Woods wasn’t winning, though, $25k to $200k per hand is manageable for a guy who’s worth $700 billion.
As for his golf play, the 40-year-old hasn’t won a Major since 2008. His earnings have also been down the past two years as he’s failed to win a tournament since 2013.
But even with his declining play, Woods makes more than enough money through endorsements to continue playing high stakes blackjack any time he wants.
Phil Mickelson is all over the news this week because he's playing in the Rocket Mortgage golf tournament and the tournament is in Detroit. Well, a Detroit reporter named Rob Snell wrote an article about him this week and the article is about Phil Mickelson having ties to a mob connected bookie and apparently Phil was ripped off by the bookie for a $500,000 bet Phil and a few other golfers placed with the bookie. The incident allegedly occured over 20 years ago. Because of the article thar was written, Mickelson was furious and says he'll never play in that Detroit tournament again. Here is the video of Phil's comments about the tournament and Rob Snell's article.
Art Schlichter
Not an athlete, but Leonard Tose, former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles and owner of a trucking company, lost everything gambling.
He had to sell the Eagles because of gambling debts.
I know a gentleman who personally counseled Schlichter on his gambling addiction.
Unfortunately, nothing worked.
Mickelson was gambling fanatically around that time, especially at the casinos. Of course him being a golfing superstar, the PGA didn't wish for that sort of behavior to become well known.
i'm not sure about how he's doing today regarding all that.
If I had to guess, I would say that he still gambles. Now, how much he bets, or what he bets on, I don't know, but I would think he still gets bitten by the gambling bug.