Bengals Fan Goes Wild After Turning $5 Free Bet Into $72k+ On Stressful Four-Leg 'First Touchdown' Parlay
NFL bettors across the globe dream of hitting a parlay like the one Cameron Craig cashed over the weekend. The Rushville, Indiana-native turned $5 into more than $72,000.
And to make things even better, the initial $5 bet wasn't even his own money!
Craig, a Bengals fan, placed the bet on DraftKings after the Sportsbook ever so graciously offered him a free bet. Books often do promotional stunts like that to keep their bettors engaged, but rarely do they ever pay out the way that it did on Sunday night.
The free bets are often used for larger, riskier wagers. Considering that there is no "real" money at risk if the bet misses, why not go with something possible, but improbable and seek a massive payout?
That is exactly what Craig did at 4:03 p.m. ET on Saturday— less than 30 minutes before the Chiefs kicked off to the Jaguars in Kansas City. He placed $5 on a four-leg parlay that included only first touchdown scorers.
He chose the following NFL players to score the first touchdown in their respective games:
As a parlay, all four players had to score the first touchdown of each of their games for the bet to hit. All together, the parlay had +1455900 odds and paid out $72,795 if it hit.
The Chiefs and Jaguars were up first.
Jacksonville punted on its first possession and Kansas City went 83 yards on 12 plays. Patrick Mahomes capped the drive with a touchdown pass to Kelce.
With the first leg in the bag, Giants vs. Eagles was up next. Philadelphia got the ball first, went 75 yards on eight plays and scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass to Goedert.
Craig was halfway there after Saturday with his own team set to play first on Sunday. Cincinnati also scored on its first drive on a 28-yard pass to Chase.
Three of four NFL players in Craig's parlay had scored the first touchdown. Only Schultz remained, which was perhaps the most obscure name included in the bet.
Well, sure enough, after three punts, an interception and a field goal, the first touchdown of the game was scored on a four-yard pass to Schultz with 9:25 left in the second quarter. In that moment, Craig became $72,795 richer.
Initially, as Dallas sat at the goal line, Craig couldn't even tell if Schultz was in the game. He could hardly even look as his friends held their breath along with him.
Here is how it went down from his perspective:
Unbelievable! This type of payout is the type of thing that dreams are made of.
Every NFL bettor in history (at least in the digital age) has placed a free bet parlay with insane odds and hoped and prayed that it would change their lives. It actually happened for Craig.