Fans making a profit on Rockies magically run
Sara Burnett and Kevin Vaughan, Rocky Mountain News
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
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Rockies fans have used a long list of adjectives to describe this postseason: Unbelievable. Magical. Amazing.
A select few can add another one: Profitable.
"(It's) been fantastic," Todd Lackie of Fort Collins said Monday night.
Lackie has bet on the Rockies in every game this postseason. So far, he's won about $300.
"Even the oddsmakers thought they'd lose at some point," he said, "but they kept winning."
The real winners may wind up being those lucky or highly optimistic fans who put money on the Rockies months ago, when no one was giving the team a second thought.
One woman at Sunday night's game told fans in her section she put $100 on the Rockies to win the World Series before the season began. The woman didn't want to talk about her bet to the media for fear of jinxing herself and the team.
But the wager and her possible clairvoyance had a lot of people wishing they'd done the same thing.
"That's a lottery ticket, with this season," said John Cole of Castle Rock.
"I didn't bet on them, but I wish I would have," added Kyle Mestas of Denver.
Before the season began, it is safe to say that the Colorado Rockies were an afterthought in oddsmakers' minds.
Bodog Sports had the Rockies at 80-to-1 to win the World Series before the season, meaning someone who put down $100 would walk away with $8,000 if Colorado managed to win the championship.
The same oddsmakers had only four major league teams rated lower than Colorado the Kansas City Royals and Washington Nationals at 1,000-to-1, the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at 600-to-1 and the Texas Rangers at 300-to-1.
Another website, gambling911.com, had the Rockies at 55-to-1 before the season.
At the start of the playoffs, the Rockies' odds were 28-to-1.
Taking a flyer on a team before the season begins can be lucrative, if you hit a winner.
In 2000, professional golfer Phil Mickelson put $20,000 down on the Baltimore Ravens to win the Super Bowl. The odds that day were 22-to-1.
Five months later, Baltimore hammered the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, and Mickelson pocketed $440,000, according to a story in USA Today.
So will Lackie be betting on the Rockies to win it all?
"I absolutely am."
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