Advertisement

Man is set to win $1 million should Michigan State cut down NCAA nets

Man is set to win $1 million should Michigan State cut down NCAA nets

The odds still aren't all that great, but surely the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino is sweating a potential $1 million payout should Michigan State win the NCAA title a whole lot more than it was a couple weeks ago.

[DraftKings: Play Fantasy College Basketball – Draft your team today!]

In early December, Derek Stevens, who owns a couple hotels himself in downtown Las Vegas, put $20,000 down on 50-to-1 odds from the Golden Nugget that a Spartans team that started the season with a 5-3 record would cut down the nets at the end of the NCAA Tournament, according to ESPN.com.

As one member of the Final Four, Michigan State is still only 8-to-1 to win the title, if only because the seventh-seeded Spartans must upset a pair of No. 1 seeds to do so — starting with Duke on Saturday, followed by Kentucky or Wisconsin two nights later. Of course, Bovada set its odds at 40-to-1 when the tournament began and 14-to-1 entering the Sweet 16, so things are looking up for Stevens.

Interestingly, the Golden Nugget reportedly declined Stevens' original bet, but the hotel bigwig persuaded his friend and neighboring business owner Tilman Fertitta to take on the $1 million longshot over the phone.

"In my nine years at this sportsbook, I never accepted a bet that could result in us paying $1 million," Tony Miller, the sportsbook's director, told ESPN.com. "The most I've ever seen won here was a $100,000 parlay."

It would be easy for Stevens to hedge his bet, as gambling on the three other Final Four teams to win the title and offset his original $20,000 investment would be a relatively low-cost option at this point, but he told ESPN.com he hasn't made up his mind on whether he will. Which is either crazy or crazy awesome or both.

As the story goes, Stevens — a University of Michigan alum — will watch Saturday's game from his own hotel surrounded by Spartans fans, which seems like a nightmare scenario for all Wolverines but one.