2015 has been an awesome year for sports, with underdogs coming out of nowhere to win championships, longtime records being broken and a new breed of athletes like Stephen Curry and Jordan Spieth dominating their respective sports to become absolute superstars.
For those who had the balls to gamble on some of these events, there were five bets that had quite the return, meaning that you might be rolling in cash thanks to these after the return they brought—so go ahead and brag if you guessed them correctly.
Here’s the return on a $10, single-outcome bet with no parlays.
Jordan Spieth To Win The Masters: Walking into Augusta National, the then 21-year-old Texan held 10/1 odds to walk away wearing the green jacket. Simply put, he obliterated the field and, had you bet on him a simple $10, would have won $100. Now imagine how cool it would have been had you dropped $100 on him?
American Pharoah To Win The Kentucky Derby: Not since 1978 had the horse racing world seen a Triple Crown winner, with every horse since Affirmed failing to reach the pinnacle of the sport by losing in the final leg at the Belmont Stakes. Not American Pharoah in 2015, though, as the horse accomplished the ridiculous feat.
http://t.co/37FB2dpcd1 makes American Pharoah a 17-2 shot to win Triple Crown. Think I'll pass on that prop bet.
— Tim Sullivan (@TimSullivan714) April 30, 2015
For gamblers, it brought a huge return, as the horse entered the Kentucky Derby at 17/2 odds to win all three races, meaning a $10 bet would have netted a $95 return.
Holly Holm To Upset Ronda Rousey: In one of the most shocking sports outcomes of the year, when Holly Holm roundhouse kicked Ronda Rousey in their title bout, everyone was shocked as hell.
If you were one of the brave ones to bet on Holm, though, a $10 bet would have brought you a $110 return, as she entered the match as an 11/1 odd to end Rousey’s undefeated UFC streak.
Hell, one guy boldly dropped $20,000 on Holm and, guess what, earned $250,000 in return.
Kansas City Royals To Win The World Series: For whatever reason, some didn’t think the Royals could repeat their magical 2014 season when they reached Game 7 of the World Series. Experts said they didn’t have the pitching or couldn’t have the same dominant bullpen in 2015.
Those pundits were way wrong.
Opening the 2015 season with 30/1 odds on an over-under line to win 80.5 games and 4.5/1, 14/1, and 33/1 to win the AL Central, Pennant and World Series, respectively, the Royals made those who believed in them some serious money.
That same homey who believed in Holly Holm actually had the same faith in Kansas City, winning a ridiculous $2.5 million on a $100,000 bet. For us normal folk who can’t drop cash like that, a $10 bet delivered $340 in return—which still is pretty dope.
The Carolina Panthers: Seeing how the Carolina Panthers finished the 2014 regular season, maybe we should have all seen their success in 2015 coming. Currently sitting 14-0 with a legit chance to finish undefeated, the Panthers’ odds to win the Super Bowl were about 33/1, with 25/1 odds on any NFL team going 16-0 during the season.
Following a 5-0 start, the Panthers were handed 500/1 odds of ending the regular season 16-0, meaning a $10 bet will return $5,000 should that actually happen, with $250 coming should the team hoist the Lombardi Trophy at season’s end.
And, after reading this, I want to take my ass to Vegas and start testing my sports knowledge—and luck—because I wouldn’t mind grabbing some cold hard cash.