Wayne Shelton placed a Hail Mary sports bet last year that ultimately turned a $100 parlay ticket into $80,960.
Photo by Zou Zheng/Xinhua via Getty Images
Wayne Shelton placed a Hail Mary sports bet last year that ultimately turned $100 into $80,960, representing an astounding 80,860% gain.
The $100 parlay ticket created by Shelton in May 2023 was based on who would win the MLB World Series, the NFL Super Bowl, and the NBA Championship.
Shelton correctly bet that the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Chiefs would win their respective championships, and it all came down to his final pick for the NBA Championship, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
If the Thunder won the Championship, Shelton would have won a $1.7 million payout from DraftKings, where he placed his bet.
While the Thunder ultimately lost their playoff series to the Dallas Mavericks last week, Shelton managed to cash out of his bet at just the right time while the Thunder were tied 2-2 in the series.
"All right guys. This is it. Last time. One hell of a ride. I got to go to a playoff game in OKC, and one hell of an up and down here with the cashouts," Shelton said in a video posted to Twitter last week.
Shelton said DraftKings offered him an initial $11,000 to cash out his $100 parlay ticket. The offer then surged to $100,000 as the Oklahoma City Thunder progressed through the NBA playoffs, only for it to drop to $30,000 when the Thunder were down 2-1 in their series against the Mavericks.
When the Thunder bounced back and tied the series at 2-2, DraftKings offered Shelton the $80,960 cashout and he took it. The Thunder then lost their next two games in the series, getting kicked out of the playoffs.
"I said if we win this game and they offer at least 80, I'm walking. Well, they're offering 80 and I don't think I can take anymore. I want to keep going but I'm a single dad and the money would be wonderful," Shelton said in the video posted to X, before flipping the camera and confirming the cashout payment on his computer.
"Cash out baby. There we go," Shelton said.
Shelton had previously shopped around his $100 parlay ticket after the Thunder won the first round of their playoff series against the New Orleans Pelicans. Using sports bet platform WagerWire, Shelton said he received offers for as much as $200,000 for his parlay ticket.
But his main challenge was verifying that those offers were legitimate, and his top priority was to protect his ticket from potential fraudsters.
This isn't the last of Shelton's strategy of betting on parlay-based sports futures, which involves betting on the success of teams far into the future.
Shelton posted to Instagram on Wednesday that he currently has a live four-pick parlay bet that could payout $190,080 based on his initial $300 wager.
Shelton said the New York Rangers and Dallas Stars need to win their respective playoff series for the ticket to pay its ultimate cash prize. With the Rangers currently down 1-0 in their series against the Florida Panthers, and the Stars series yet to start, DraftKings is currently offering him an $18,602 payout.
"I thought there might be a bit of time off after last weeks hit, but no rest for a futures bettor!" Shelton said.
