Casino owner eyes 1M payoff
GETTY, AP THIS IS March Madness on a whole different level.
A bet between two Las Vegas casino owners will cost one of them $1 million if Michigan wins the NCAA basketball tournament.
Derek Stevens, who owns The D Las Vegas and Golden Gate casinos, plunked down $12,500 on the Wolverines at the Golden Nugget Las Vegas, which was offering 80-to-1 odds before the tournament started.
“It’s a little scary, because they’re only putting up twelve-five, and you’re putting up a million,” said Tilman Fertitta, the Texas billionaire who owns the Golden Nugget. “But that’s the nature of the business we’re in. It’s OK, ’cause he’s a good customer.”
Stevens, a Michigan native and University of Michigan alumnus, bet $11,000 each on all 32 first-round games, but got off to a rocky start, down $109,000 after the opening round. But his wager on the seventh-seeded Wolverines could turn that tide.
Michigan has advanced to the Sweet 16, bringing Fertitta closer to making a payout 10 times larger than any his casino’s sports book has ever made. Michigan plays No 3 seed Oregon Thursday and still needs four wins to win the national championship.
“Michigan seems to be kind of a darling right now,” Fertitta said. “It’s giving us a good sweat.”
The Golden Nugget could have rejected the bet, but Fertitta personally approved it.
Stevens posted a copy of his betting slip from the Golden Nugget on Twitter.
Fertitta himself is tied for second place in a nationwide charity brackets pool, the Bloomberg Brackets for a Cause March Madness challenge. Picking his own alma mater North Carolina to win it all, he promises to give the $380,000 prize to the Houston Police Foundation if he wins.