It’s basic to say now that we have a year behind us, but looking back at 2025, some betting decisions may have been… miscalculated.
Some examples:
Last season, DraftKings said it placed a $25,000 bet on the Las Vegas Raiders to win the Super Bowl at 100-1. The Raiders would not win the Super Bowl.
102 entries to Circa Survivor, a high-stakes NFL survivor competition run by a Las Vegas casino, did not submit their picks by the weekly deadline this season and were eliminated. The tournament buy-in was $1,000 and the prize pool was $18.7 million.
Kalshi Prediction Market noted that one of its clients invested $183,954 in social media influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul to defeat vigorous two-time heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. Paul was hospitalized with a broken jaw thanks to Joshua’s devastating right hand during the knockout victory. Live and learn, right?
This year hasn’t been a bad one for gamblers at all. There have been several betting success stories that have had bookmaking executives lamenting to shareholders about “customer-friendly results” or begging gambling regulators to allow them to void angle shooting contracts altogether. Despite these setbacks, the betting industry is expected to survive the up-to-date year.
As we reflect on the year in betting, we wish you fewer miscalculations in 2026.
The craziest bets of 2025
January 9: A DraftKings bettor placed a 50-cent 19-game college basketball bet at odds of +43,473,946. All 19 teams covered the spread; 17 of them came from compact conferences, including Stetson, Jacksonville and IU Indianapolis.
The 50-cent jackpot won $217,370.23.
January 28: A DraftKings bettor placed a $1,000 bet on Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Fernando Mendoza to win the Heisman Trophy at odds of 100-1. Eleven months later, in December, Mendoza received the Heisman Award, which resulted in a net winning of $100,000.
February 9: The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX 40-22. BetMGM customers lost more money on the Super Bowl than on any other game in any sport in 2025, according to the bookmaker.
April 21: Sportsbooks began noticing an unusual spike in home run bets on Wednesday morning at the start of the MLB season. The bets were not on Aaron Judge or Shohei Ohtani. They involved Nick Castellanos, a journeyman outfielder for the Philadelphia Phillies and the subject of an Internet meme that has earned him a reputation for returning home on gigantic news days.
“We started looking around to see what was going on and we saw that the Pope had died,” recalled BetMGM’s Halvor Egeland.
Egeland said BetMGM rarely charges enough on a home run bet to adjust the odds, but it did that day, dropping Castellanos from +775 to +550. This didn’t leisurely down the action. By the end of the day, more bets had been placed on Castellanos’ homer than on any other team or player in all sports.
Castellanos went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in the Phillies’ 5-4 loss to the Novel York Mets.
June 5: A bettor from Ohio with BetMGM placed a bet An $8 million bet on the heavily favored Oklahoma City Thunder, who defeated the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals at -700 odds.
The Thunder defeated the Pacers in seven games, with bettors net winning $1.42 million.
June 15: JJ Spaun shot 150-1 to win the US Open. Spaun had the best chance to win of any player since Phil Mickelson (200-1) won the 2021 PGA Championship.
June 24: An Arizona bettor using BetMGM placed three gigantic bets on the winner of the College Football Playoff:
$300,000 to Texas at 5-1 $200,000 at Penn State at +750 $115,000 for Clemson at 13-1
All three teams missed the CFP.
June 25: The Dallas Mavericks selected Cooper Flagg with the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA Draft. The Mavericks were 500-1 to select Flagg, the highest odds of any futures bet offered by DraftKings in 2026.
August 23: Heading into the college football season, North Carolina, under first-year coach Bill Belichick, attracted the same amount of money and wagering to win the national championship as Indiana on BetMGM Sportsbook. The Hoosiers finished the season undefeated and entered the CFP with the top seed, while the Tar Heels finished 4-8.
August 30: A DraftKings bettor picked the winner of all 15 MLB games this Saturday, who won $125,088.36 in a $5 15-game bet deal.
August 31: A FanDuel player followed beloved college football personality Lee Corso College Gameday final picks and won $1,317.18 in a six-game $10 giveaway that included outright wins over Florida State and Alabama. Corso retired from the series this year.
September 7: The Buffalo Bills staged a remarkable comeback by beating the Baltimore Ravens 41-40 on Sunday in the first week of the NFL season. According to the bookmaker, this transaction resulted in the largest winnings in any game for BetMGM customers this year. In an earnings call, DraftKings said the Bills-Ravens partnership had the biggest loss in the sportsbook’s history.
September 11: A bettor at Caesars Sportsbook risked $715,000 on +140 underdog Terence Crawford to defeat Canelo Alvarez and netted $985,000 as Crawford won by unanimous decision.
October 15: A Massachusetts bettor operating DraftKings placed 27 parlay bets centered on how many hits Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes would have in the American League Championship Series game against the Seattle Mariners. The player risked $12,950 for a chance to win $934,147.83.
DraftKings has informed the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) that a technical error allowed a bettor to include Luke’s five-plus, six-plus, seven-plus and eight-plus hits during the ALCS in sports betting to boost the odds. Lukes had nine hits in the ALCS.
DraftKings told MGC it believes the player’s relative is among six customers in Novel Jersey who also placed a similar bet on Lukes, resulting in a $1.8 million winnings. Gaming regulators in Massachusetts and Novel Jersey rejected DraftKings’ request to void the bets.
November 2: A week after National Tight End Day, a bettor at Caesars Sportsbook bet on five tight ends and scored the first touchdown of his parlay series. Four of the five players – Theo Johnson of the Novel York Giants, Tyler Higbee of the Los Angeles Rams, Dalton Kincaid of the Bills and Sam LaPorta of the Detroit Lions – returned the win to the bettor, resulting in winnings of approximately $111,000.
“The customer bet on each combination of these five selections and bet $2.50 per leg, and the potential winnings were just under $2 million,” said Joey Feazel of Caesars Sportsbook. “Although the bettor missed all five, he hit four of five, allowing him to win over $111,000. A fantastic investment for the bettor.”
December 7: A Demanding Rock BET bettor placed a $1.20 bet involving all college basketball players, resulting in a payout of $344,902.81. According to the company, at +34,490,181, this is the highest ever odds for a successful deal at Demanding Rock BET.
December 8: A Fanatics bettor placed $1.47 million on a four-game NFL bet in Week 14, netting him $1.86 million, the sportsbook’s biggest winning bet of the year. Four legs: Rams money line over Arizona Cardinals; Green Bay Packers Moneyline over Chicago Bears; and Denver Broncos over Raiders and under at Pittsburgh Steelers-Ravens (alternate line).
December 14: The player successfully predicted that a player would score the first touchdown in five NFL games, turning a 10-cent winnings into a payout of $7,356.80.
World Boxing News provides results and updates as Johnny Fisher faces Michael Pirotton on Zuffa Boxing 11 at the Copper Box Arena in London.
Fisher returns to heavyweight action over ten rounds against Pirotton as part of Zuffa Boxing’s latest event in the United Kingdom.
Craig Richards faces Radivoje Kalajdzic at light heavyweight, while Lee Cutler takes on Louis Greene and Cesar Mateo Tapia faces Leo Ruiz at middleweight.
WBN provides results and updates from every bout as they happen.
Results
All times are local BST.
23:41
Johnny Fisher defeated Michael Pirotton by majority decision after ten competitive heavyweight rounds at the Copper Box Arena. WBN scored the fight 98-92 for Fisherwhile the official judges returned scores of 98-92 and 96-95 for Fisher, with the third scoring it 95-95.
22:42
Radivoje Kalajdzic improved to 31-3 with a unanimous decision over Craig Richards, who dropped to 20-5-1 after a good ten-round scrap. Both men had their moments and hurt each other at times before “Hot Rod” got the verdict on the scorecards, which included knocking Richards down for the first time in his career.
21:43
Lee Cutler carded a unanimous decision win over Louis Greene in their ten-round middleweight clash. Judges scorecard 98-92 and 97-93 twice in favor on Cutler, who improves to 17-2.
20:52
Ahead of the three main bouts, Zuffa’s only female fighter, Kayla Allendefeated Edina Kiss via TKO in their super lightweight bout.
20:32
Leo Ruiz overcame Cesar Tapia over 10 rounds at middleweight, scoring a unanimous decision to move to 18-1 as Ruiz Tapia suffered a first loss.
19:29
Alex MacMillan moved to 5-0 with a second-round stoppage of Guillaume Azagier, who went down twice in the opening round and again before the finish at 0:32 of the second.
18:40
Rogelio Romero improved to 7-0 with a third-round stoppage of previously unbeaten Aurel Ignat, ending the cruiserweight contest at 2:12.
18:24
Alexis De la Cerda improved to 10-0 with a unanimous decision over Cain Lewis, taking the eight-round contest 80-72, 79-74 and 79-73.
17:42
Fred Pullen marked his professional debut with a four-round points victory over Leonardo Faretina, who was dropped in the second round.
Remaining Bouts
Johnny Fisher vs. Michael Pirotton — 10 rounds, heavyweight
Craig Richards vs. Radivoje Kalajdzic — 10 rounds, light heavyweight
TV Coverage
The event is available live on Sky in the United Kingdom and Paramount+.
Follow WBN’s live boxing coverage throughout the event.
About the Author
Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a BWAA-acknowledged boxing news website founded in 2010. A veteran boxing reporter with 16 years of experience, he has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside from major events. His work is published worldwide through WBN and distributed on platforms including Apple News.
World Boxing News provides results and updates as Liam Davies faces Nathaniel Collins in the main event at bp pulse LIVE in Birmingham.
Davies and Collins collide over 12 rounds for the EBU European featherweight title at the top of the Queensberry Promotions card.
Luke McCormack faces Kay Prospere for the vacant British super lightweight title, while Bradley Goldsmith takes on Amir Abubaker for the IBF International middleweight title.
WBN provides results and updates from every bout as they happen.
Results
All times are local BST.
23:11
Gerome Warburton defeated Nathan Heaney for the second time running as the middleweight put an exclamation mark on his first victory.
Heaney walks away from the sport having been an entertainer through a long carer, without reaching the heights of a world title.
22:04
Liam Davies improved to 19-1 after Nathaniel Collins retired at the end of the seventh round due to a cut over his right eye. Collins had also been dropped in the opening round as Davies successfully defended the European featherweight title.
21:22
Bradley Goldsmith improved to 17-1 with a seventh-round stoppage of Amir Abubaker to retain his IBF International middleweight title. Abubaker went down in the fourth and three times in the seventh before the finish at 2:42.
20:10
Lewis Richardson improved to 3-0 with a shutout six-round points victory over Ivan Trofimovich, earning a 60-54 decision.
19:56
Luke McCormack moved to 6-0 and claimed the vacant British super lightweight title with a tenth-round knockout of Kay Prospere, who was counted out after a right uppercut at 1:28.
18:55
Michael Hussain moved to 5-0 with a four-round points victory over Nabil Ahmed, earning a 39-38 decision.
18:11
Nelson Birchall moved to 12-0 with a third-round stoppage of Lewis Morris, who went down before the finish came at 1:12. Lasha Guruli also remained unbeaten at 5-0 after edging Hughie Wilson 77-75 over eight rounds.
17:22
Early action saw John Tom Varey and Reese Lynch claim four-round victories to move to 3-0 and 5-0 respectively.
TV Coverage
DAZN provides full worldwide coverage.
Follow WBN’s live boxing coverage throughout the event.
About the Author
Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN), a BWAA-acknowledged boxing news website founded in 2010. A veteran boxing reporter with 16 years of experience, he has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside from major events. His work is published worldwide through WBN and distributed on platforms including Apple News.
Janibek Alimkhanuly spent months trying to get Hamzah Sheeraz into the ring. Now that Sheeraz has vacated his WBO super middleweight title, Janibek is asking fans to stop saying the former champion ran from him. That is generous. It also leaves Janibek with less to say about a fight he wanted badly.
He’s not afraid of me. He didn’t run from me. He made his decision based on his own plans. He has his own goals! He’s my brother, and I ask everyone to stop saying he ran from me. He’s a great fighter, and I have nothing but respect for him! @sheeraz_hamzah 🫂 pic.twitter.com/uxZlegqSmH
— Janibek Alimkhanuly (@qazaqstyle) September 26, 2026
Janibek’s tone has changed since the purse bid. He was eager to fight, said money was not his priority, and publicly pushed Sheeraz to accept. Queensberry then bid $1,001,809 to stage the ordered defense, beating Top Rank’s $820,000 offer. Sheeraz’s 75 percent share would have been roughly $751,000. Days later, he gave up the belt.
That sequence deserves a closer look. Queensberry put a serious number on the fight, so the bid itself cannot be dismissed as proof that nobody valued it. But winning the right to promote a title defense means little to fans when the champion vacates before it happens.
Sheeraz has objected to Janibek receiving a mandatory shot after his failed drug test. He is entitled to explain that position. Fans are equally entitled to ask why the issue reached a purse bid before he surrendered the title. Janibek’s post supplies no answer.
Perhaps Janibek sees no benefit in branding Sheeraz a coward. Doing so would also make the opponent he chased sound less valuable. Calling Sheeraz a great fighter preserves the idea that this was an important contest, even after the belt and the fight slipped away.
The respect between them may be sincere. Janibek still gets no Sheeraz fight, and Sheeraz no longer has to defend his title against Janibek. A friendly photo does not change either result.
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Boxing 24/7 Wire
Boxing247.com is an independent boxing news publication covering the sport since 2001. It provides original reporting, fight analysis, schedules, results, and informed coverage of major fighters and events worldwide, backed by more than 25 years of professional boxing journalism.
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