There is just something about professional sports of all kinds that makes you want to place a bet on your favorite team or player. After all, isn’t that what sports are all about anyway? You win or you lose and very rarely is there a tie in any game, which will eventually build up to a final round competition. In other words, sports lend themselves well to gambling and even the pro players themselvhave been spotted at online or land-based casinos. Here are four you just might have heard of!
And there you have four pro athletes who frequent land-based and online casinos, some of which you might never have imagined. After all, with all those championships under his belt, who would think the great Jordan would be betting for yet another win? Perhaps winning as much as he has on the court makes it difficult to give up the competition, and the same might hold true for every player mentioned above. It’s nice to know those guys are no different than the rest of the world when it comes to betting – it’s just that they do it in a much bigger way.
Michael Jordan
Who hasn’t heard of Michael Jordan, still viewed by many fans as the world’s all-time best basketball player with so many accomplishments under his belt it would be difficult to count? Let’s just say that as a 10-time scoring champion of the NBA and with six championships to his credit, it will be a while before anyone catches up with his record. That could go for losing as well, unfortunately. It has been alleged that in 2007 Jordan lost more than $5 million playing craps. Is it true or just a rumor? You’d need to ask the man himself.Tiger Woods
Then, there’s the golf legend, Tiger Woods. Tiger loves to play Blackjack and is said to play the $25,000 hands at MGM Grand Las Vegas. However, Woods is also rumored to try his hand at online casinos when he doesn’t want to be out in the spotlight. This can be the case with any pro player simply because of all the paparazzi who make their lives miserable. They’d probably rather stay at home for a quick pull of a digital slots wheel than make their way through the press. Maybe they have the funds to bet big, but for fun may even try the newer free video slots that have become so popular.Michael Phelps
What about Michael Phelps, who holds the world record as the most decorated Olympian champion in recorded history? Yes, the Olympics do go back millennia, but we’ve only been recording them since the modern era, so who’s to say what happened in ancient Greece? All joking aside, Phelps has won as much $100,000 in a single high stakes game of poker and has even posted tweets featuring $100,000 chips. Now that’s a man who loves to gamble.Floyd Mayweather
Who in their right mind would want to duke it out with Floyd Mayweather in a questionable game of poker or at the horse races? This former pro boxer may be out of the ring, but he can still pack a punch and is known to tout his wins on social media. His bets can run into the hundreds of thousands, so there are probably very few who could hold up against him anyway.And there you have four pro athletes who frequent land-based and online casinos, some of which you might never have imagined. After all, with all those championships under his belt, who would think the great Jordan would be betting for yet another win? Perhaps winning as much as he has on the court makes it difficult to give up the competition, and the same might hold true for every player mentioned above. It’s nice to know those guys are no different than the rest of the world when it comes to betting – it’s just that they do it in a much bigger way.
Moonlighting as a blogger to pursue my interest and enjoyment of sports. Former high school and Division I athlete (now a "retired" family man) that loves watching and discussing all sports. Follow me on Twitter (@HoldoutSports) and like Holdout Sports on Facebook.
