This week a gambler from Kingman, Arizona correctly picked the winners of all 15 Sunday and Monday NFL games, winning $57,935 off of a $5 bet.
The Arizona gambler, who asked to be identified only as “Rex,” took his big payday at the Edgewater Hotel & Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. Rex is apparently a regular denizen of the casino.
Rex was one of only two out of 3,986 bettors in the William Hill Pro Progressive Football Parlay Card who correctly picked all 14 Sunday game winners in a straight-up bet (no point spreads). The second card for Monday’s game was entered at the Silverado Casino in Fernley, Nevada.
Rex is reported to have hedged his bet a bit by making a separate wager for an undisclosed amount on a straight-up win for the Jets even as his 15 picks correctly chose the Bears to win on Monday.
“He told the ticket writer that he would have hedged for more, but he had no idea he was the only Chicago winner,” William Hill spokesperson Michael Grodsky said.
Rex entered 15 other entries in the contest, but when the Bears beat the Jets in a 27-19 victory on Monday night, his 16th ticket netted him the big jackpot.
Grodsky noted that rarely do they see more than one or two winners a year on this progressive jackpot. Last year the pot built to $109,290 before someone won. But it was a first, Grodsky said, that it came down to two players who each picked the opposite teams for Monday but picked the correct teams for the preceding 14 games.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com