Nick Coletsos
Tuesday, March 27, 2018 | 10:21 a.m.
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Derek Stevens is asking for your sports betting advice.
The downtown Las Vegas casino owner has a $25,000 wager on Michigan to win the national championship at plus-4000, meaning two more victories by his home state Wolverines would net a $1 million win.
He placed the wager March 3 at the Golden Nugget, well before Michigan won the Big 10 Conference tournament and reached this weekend’s Final Four.
Michigan is a minus-5 point favorite against Loyola-Chicago in Saturday’s national semifinal, presenting an ideal opportunity for Stevens to hedge the wager, because Cinderella Loyola-Chicago is plus-200 on the money line.
Stevens took to Twitter to ask, “Do I hedge or should I let it roll??”
By hedging Stevens, for instance, could put $25,000 on Loyola-Chicago to win $50,000, doubling his initial investment.
If Michigan beats Loyola-Chicago, it would be an underdog on Monday in the national championship game against the Kansas-Villanova winner.
This isn’t the first time Stevens has been in line to win $1 million on the tournament heading into the Final Four. In 2015, he had $20,000 on Michigan State, but the Spartans lost to Duke. In 2017, he had Michigan for $12,500 at 80-to-1, but Michigan lost to Oregon in the Sweet 16.
Stevens also bet $363,000 — $11,000 on each of the first-round games — at the South Point while appearing on the Vegas Stats & Information Network with Brent Musburger when lines for this year’s tournament were released. He made a modest $16,000 profit.
Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21
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