Wisconsin man makes $1.2 million in his 'first-ever sports bet' following Tiger Woods' Masters win
James Adduci had a strong intuition that Tiger Woods would win the Masters trophy at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday before he placed an $85,000 bet on the golfing legend
The Wisconsin native couldn't believe his eyes when he realized he had just won a staggering $1.2 million, the largest golf payout in William Hill's sportsbook history, the Golf Digest reports.
Speaking to the Digest, Aducci said he flew to Las Vegas in order to put “everything I had that I could afford to lose" on Woods last Tuesday. “I just thought it was predestined for him to win. A month before is when I knew I was going to do it," he said. The odds were a mere 14 is to 1.
"I had been thinking a lot about this," he continued. "I watched Tiger's performance at the Tour Championship, and things seemed to be going his way. I looked at how well he did there, and some other factors you can't put stats behind. It wasn't about the stats for me. The fact that this was going to be his first major in front of his kids, I was convinced he would win."
Aducci also revealed he was able to gather that kind of money only after selling some stock and taking the cash from a Las Vegas bank to two Las Vegas casinos, who knocked him back. While placing such a significant bet, Aducci remained grounded. In a bid to save $2, he said he caught a Lyft with a mother and her daughter to get to the SLS Las Vegas Hotel & Casino run by William Hill.
Nick Bogdanovich, the Director of Trading at the casino, conferred with his boss and decided to take on Aducci's bet -- the 39-year-old day trader's first-ever wager on sports in his life.
“This is a story for the ages,” said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US. “Tiger climbs back to the top, and a guy from Wisconsin, on his first sports bet ever, wins over $1 million betting on him. We congratulate both James and Tiger on their epic wins.”
According to the lucky winner, what made the victory extra special was that he watched the Masters on a 23-inch TV screen in a "tiny, jail cell-sized" room with his 82-year-old father and his young children by his side. “Golf was so special for my dad and I,” he said. “To see Tiger win a major tournament for the first time in front of his kids meant a lot to me.”
Now, Aducci plans to invest his winnings in various business ventures and at the same time pay off debts and buy a couple of new garage doors. “I’m a responsible guy,” he asserted. “My background is finance. I’m going to invest most of it. And we’re going to grow it.”