It’s easy to say this now with the year behind us, but looking back at 2025, some betting decisions were, perhaps … miscalculated.
A few examples:
This past offseason, DraftKings reported taking a $25,000 bet on the Las Vegas Raiders at 100-1 to win the Super Bowl. The Raiders would fall very short of winning the Super Bowl.
102 entries in Circa Survivor, a high-stakes NFL survivor contest operated by a Las Vegas casino, failed to submit their picks by the weekly deadline this season and were eliminated. The contest had a $1,000 buy-in and an $18.7 million prize pool.
Prediction market Kalshi noted that one of its customers invested $183,954 in social-media-influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul to beat active, two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Paul ended up in the hospital with a broken jaw, courtesy of a devastating right hand from Joshua in his knockout victory. Live and learn, right?
The year wasn’t all bad for gamblers. There were some betting success stories that left sportsbook executives lamenting to shareholders about
The wildest bets in sports of 2025, from the Pope to Jake Paul to the CFP
