Against the Worst Odds

Are you much of a risk taker?  More specifically, do you make bets?  I recently read a yahoo sports blog where it said one person made two bets in the amount of $250 each for the St. Louis Cardinals to win the 2011 NL  pennant and 2011 World Series .  The odds were 500:1 for NL Pennant and 999:1 for the World Series.  That’s right!  This guy bet total of $500 against these amazing odds!  What a waste of money, right?  There is no way I can throw away this kind of money especially against these kind of odds.


These bets were made on September 12, 2011 when the St. Louis Cardinals were many games back in the wild card race against Atlanta Braves.  If you follow MBL, you know what happened to the Cardinals.  They end up taking the wild card away from Atlanta Braves in the last game of the season and actually won the NL pennant this year!  This means the bet that was made on September 12, 2011 turned out to be a winner of $125,000.  In addition, the St. Louis Cardinals is currently 2-1 in a sever game series against Texas Rangers prior to Sunday night game.  I really think the Cardinals will win the World Series, which will mean another $249,750.  This guy’s amazing bets will eventually give him total of $375,000 this week if Cardinals win the World Series.  Unfortunately, he probably have to pay about 40% in taxes but still it’s a nice chunk of money.  Would you have made $500 bet against the worst odds?