Sports Bettor Loses Chance at $6M After Raiders Loss

A sports bettor lost the chance at winning $6.1 million after the Las Vegas Raiders blew a 10-3 halftime lead in losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers, 13-10 on Christmas Eve.

An entrant named “Maddog” in the Circa Survivor Pro Football Contest — a season-long competition where players pay $1,000 per entry in a field of 6,133 — was one of four contestants remaining entering Saturday’s game. 

Maddog just needed the Raiders to win to be the sole winner of the Survivor contest, but his three competitors advanced as they needed a Steelers victory.

A bettor had better luck due to the Steelers’ win as they pocketed $500,000 on a $550,000 straight bet through BetMGM on Pittsburgh to cover the spread at -2.5 points. 

“We got beat up a little on Saturday,” MGM Resorts director of trading Lamarr Mitchell told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The Raiders was our biggest loser.”

The Raiders made a quarterback change coming off the heels of the loss. On Wednesday, the Raiders decided to bench Derek Carr, its starting signal caller for the last nine seasons, for former New England Patriots quarterback Jarrett Stidham for the final two games of the season. 

The move was to maintain Carr’s health as the offseason approaches ahead of potential trades.

In April, Carr agreed to a three-year, $121.5 million contract extension, making him the seventh-highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.