[toc]While many sports bettors enjoy the thrill of watching their bets play out in real time, this was not a luxury afforded to Damon Graham.
He had to go to work at Starbucks, instead of watching Week 17 action to find out if he was going to win the Westgate SuperContest.
The barista from Las Vegas could only check the scores and verify his win in the esteemed football betting contest during his lunch break. His earnings amounted to $895,481.
Under the team name Pops2008, he played and achieved a season record of 58-24-3.
Graham came to Vegas to be a poker pro
Graham told the Associated Press in an interview that he first arrived in Vegas ten years ago with aspirations of becoming a professional poker player. He managed to save sufficient funds to purchase two entries into this year’s SuperContest.
In the last week of play, he chose opposite sides for five games on his respective cards, hoping one would end up in the money. Surprisingly, the entry with what he assumed would be the losing sides of the games ended up going 5-0, securing the title for him.
The 32-year-old is the most recent amateur to triumph in what was formerly a competition primarily ruled by professional gamblers.
The competition mandates that each participant, whether an individual or a team, must submit five selections weekly throughout the NFL regular season, using point spreads supplied by Westgate.
The sports book requires the submission of picks. With the recent advent of proxies in the competition, participants from all over the nation can join, regardless of their location outside Las Vegas.
This year’s SuperContest drew 1,854 entries
This year’s SuperContest saw a record-breaking 1,854 entries, making it the largest field in the contest’s history.
The contest commenced during the 1980s. A decade ago, it attracted 342 participants. In 2011, the number of entries surged to over 500 and has been increasing by hundreds ever since. In 2013, for the first time, the SuperContest surpassed 1,000 entries.
All of the top 50 finishers received a payday this year. A 13-way tie near the lower end resulted in payments being made to 51 places.
The lowest cash value was $2,985.05. Each of the top six finishers earned over a hundred thousand dollars.
Graham’s performance ranks highly historically
Graham’s record of 58 wins and three pushes is not the top performance in the history of the SuperContest.
The honor of surpassing more than 60 correct predictions goes to the 2014 team, which included Justin Green and Andrew Leff. They managed to achieve an impressive record of 64-20-1.
The performance that ranks second-best saw 59 correct picks. Graham, along with several others who correctly predicted 58 games, holds the third position.
Graham hasn’t revealed if he plans to continue making lattes, use his winnings to resume playing poker, or commit to sports betting on a full-time basis.
Image courtesy of Iryna Liveoak / Shutterstock.com
