Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Friends turn $800 into $17K in Vegas thanks to UMBC’s upset of Virginia

UMBC

Gerry Broome / AP

UMBC players celebrate a teammate’s basket against Virginia during the second half of a first-round game in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament in Charlotte, N.C., Friday, March 16, 2018.

In the history of the NCAA Tournament, No. 16 seeds hadn’t won a game in 135 previous attempts against top-seeded teams.

That changed Friday when the University of Maryland at Baltimore County somehow beat Virginia by 20 points. It was the biggest upset in the history of the sport, right?

In Las Vegas, a group of buddies each combined to wager $800 on UMBC. The ticket, placed at the Venetian, paid $16,800.

So, why did the friends decide to take a plus-2000 longshot?

Read more from ESPN.

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