Long-Shot Vegas Bet Worth $25,000

Posted Oct 23, 2008 by Rod Challenger

Updated Oct 23, 2008 at 05:28 PM

David Marger, 46, of St. Petersburg, is a Tampa Bay Rays fan who has put his money where his mouth is.

In November, while visiting in Las Vegas, he placed a $100 bet that the Rays would win the World Series this year.

The odds: 250 to 1. Marger would collect $25,000 if the Rays win the world title.

“There definitely was a little alcohol involved,” said Marger, talking about why he made the bet at the Bally’s hotel and casino sports book.

Would he have made the bet if he weren’t a Rays fan?

“I don’t think so,” he said.

Marger said the casino worker who took the bet “kinda smiled and shook his head” when he put his money down.

Marger forgot about the bet, but when the Rays made it into the playoffs, he began looking for the ticket.

“There are about three places where it would normally be, and I went to the first place and it wasn’t there,” he said.

When it wasn’t in the second place he looked, he said, “I broke out into a cold, cold sweat.”

He finally found it in another drawer and then put it in a safe deposit box. 

If the Rays do win the World Series, he plans to retrieve the receipt and fly to Las Vegas to cash it in.

He invited some of his friends to join him.

He told them, “We’re going to have a big party on me.”