Gambling and sports have always been intertwined from the very beginning of time, so it’s not much of a surprise to see some of the biggest sports stars trying out their luck in various casinos. For a multi-billion dollar industry, it would always attract the very best, and this is one of the biggest reasons why gambling is so common among sportsmen. Another reason is that these famous Sportsmen earn millions, and they are just looking for means to spend some of that bucks. Casinos provide that glamorous opportunity to stay competitive while also looking at earning something. In addition, the competition for the online casino market is driving casino gaming sites to offer attractive bonuses to customers; IGT free slots would allow players to try out that gambling experience for free. So here we would be looking at some of the biggest sportsmen that frequently visit casino locations across the globe.
Floyd Mayweather Jnr.
Las Vegas is the world’s gambling capital, and if you are looking for the undisputed “King” of Vegas among athletes, you don’t need to look any further. Floyd’s gambling habits are far well known as he is a regular face among various casinos in Vegas. The self-acclaimed “Money bag” is not afraid to show this side of him as he regularly posts big wins on his social media channels over the years. In one event in 2012, he posted a wagering of $1.1 million on a college football game where he gave Oregon – 7.5 over Arizona State. The Oregon team won the game 43-21, which was more than enough to cover the handicap. Floyd later confirmed that his winnings from this single game were well over $1 million. Aside from stakings in football games, Floyd has been accused a few times of trying to bet on his boxing matches, some sources reporting that he placed about $400,000 on himself to beat McGregor in 2017, which he denied. He is a very popular face in casino games and lives to gamble across diverse events.
Cristiano Ronaldo
The footballing “GOAT” is a huge lover of poker games, also regularly running promotional ads for some casino businesses. He’s also one of the biggest members of PokerStars as an official sports team and has appeared in loads of live-streamed poker rooms that have been watched by millions all over the world. He has also been involved in a lot of charities organised by casino firms, with one game against the Breaking Bad star Aaron Paul generating a massive following. Ronaldo started playing poker while he was at Manchester United after being introduced to the game by a teammate and has since gone up to gain mastery of the game. The five-time Balon D’Or winner described his love for poker by saying:
“Although football is my world, poker has always been my game.”
Rafael Nadal
You don’t need to follow Lawn Tennis to know who Rafael Nadal is. He’s a twenty-time grand slam winner and widely regarded as one of the greatest tennis players ever. The “King of Clay” is a fierce competitor on the tennis court, but that’s not the only place where he’s competitive. Nadal has been playing poker since his early days in Spain. Although he has largely kept this side of him a secret, he did confirm that he was a huge poker player in 2013 after he won 100,000 euros in a poker charity match. He said:
“Like tennis, poker is a competition; you need to control your emotions, you need to be focussed all the time. You need to have self-control, you have to wait for your moment.” Like Ronaldo, he’s also an ambassador for PokerStars and sometimes features in streamed poker games.
Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods is often regarded as the greatest golfer of all time, and this is for a reason. He’s tied for first for PGA tour wins and also second for most major championships won. Woods has been visiting casinos even before it was legal for him to do so. In 1996, while he was still 20, he was caught playing blackjack on a casino riverboat in Iowa. Since then, Woods has been a very popular face in casino houses, even going as far as hosting an annual casino game called Tiger Jam which has gone on for more than two decades. However, Woods’s gambling habits have left many to question if he’s actually addicted to betting on blackjack, especially the controversy surrounding him. One thing is for sure, Woods loves his casino games, and he will keep playing.
Michael Jordan
Jordan is a 6-time NBA champion and is often regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time. As with most names on this list, Jordan fell in love a long time ago and has been regularly staking huge bets because he can simply afford it. Though as with Woods, this has come with a lot of controversial situations. He even admitted at one point that he actually had a gambling problem. During the 1992 Olympics, Jordan was caught playing rock, paper, scissors with about $100,000 before games. There was also another incident the following year, where the Chicago Bulls basketballer spent the night before a game against New York Knicks in a casino at Atlantic City. The aftermath of this was so bad that it had been widely speculated that this was the reason Jordan first retired in 1993, as he was supposedly suspended for 18 months and had to retire to save face. Jordan has some particular huge losses from as it was widely reported at one time that he lost about $5 million playing craps in just one night at Las Vegas.
Conclusion
The names on this list are huge sportsmen in their various fields, and this comes with some perks of making them super-rich. Most of them just gamble because it’s fun and they can afford it; for some, they are so passionate about it to the point of struggling with gambling addiction. For Ronaldo and Nadal, they prefer to stick with Poker, while others like Jordan and Floyd can gamble on any type of game since it brings excitement. For whatever game they decide, or you decide to stick with, caution has to be applied while playing casino games.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe remain undefeated in women’s doubles at the WTA Finals.
The 2023 U.S. Open champions, seeded second at the event, secured a 1-6, 7-6 (1), (11-9) super-tiebreak win over fourth-seeded Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in round-robin play on Tuesday.
The season-ending tournament features the WTA Tour’s top eight women’s doubles teams.
Dabrowski and Routliffe lost the first set in 22 minutes but levelled the match by breaking Errani’s serve three times in the second, including at 6-5. They clinched victory with Routliffe saving a match point on her serve and Dabrowski ending Errani’s final serve-and-volley attempt.
Dabrowski and Routliffe will next face fifth-seeded Americans Caroline Dolehide and Desirae Krawczyk on Thursday, where a win would secure a spot in the semifinals.
The final is scheduled for Saturday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Nov. 5, 2024.
EDMONTON – Jake Allen made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and 26th of his career as the New Jersey Devils closed out their Western Canadian road trip with a 3-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and an assist and Stefan Noesen and Timo Meier also scored for the Devils (8-5-2) who have won three of their last four on the heels on a four-game losing skid.
The Oilers (6-6-1) had their modest two-game winning streak snapped.
Calvin Pickard made 13 stops between the pipes for Edmonton.
TAKEAWAYS
Devils: In addition to his goal, Bratt picked up his 12th assist of the young season to give him nine points in his last eight games and now 15 points overall. Nico Hischier remains in the team lead, picking up an assist of his own to give him 16 points for the campaign. He has a point in all but four games this season.
Oilers: Forward Leon Draisaitl was held pointless after recording six points in his previous two games and nine points in his previous four. Draisaitl usually has strong showings against the Devils, coming into the contest with an eight-game point streak against New Jersey and 11 goals in 17 games.
KEY MOMENT
New Jersey took a 2-0 lead on the power play with 3:26 remaining in the second period as Hischier made a nice feed into the slot to Bratt, who wired his third of the season past Pickard.
KEY RETURN?
Oilers star forward and captain Connor McDavid took part in the optional morning skate for the Oilers, leading to hopes that he may be back sooner rather than later. McDavid has been expected to be out for two to three weeks with an ankle injury suffered during the first shift of last Monday’s loss in Columbus.
OILERS DEAL FOR D-MAN
The Oilers have acquired defenceman Ronnie Attard from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for defenceman Ben Gleason.
The 6-foot-3 Attard has spent the past three season in the Flyers organization seeing action in 29 career games. The 25-year-old right-shot defender and Western Michigan University grad was originally selected by Philadelphia in the third round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. Attard will report to the Oilers’ AHL affiliate in Bakersfield.
UP NEXT
Devils: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Oilers: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 4, 2024.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Patrick Mahomes threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, and Kareem Hunt pounded into the end zone from two yards out in overtime to give the unbeaten Kansas City Chiefs a 30-24 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
DeAndre Hopkins had two touchdown receptions for the Chiefs (8-0), who drove through the rain for two fourth-quarter scores to take a 24-17 lead with 4:17 left. But then Kansas City watched as Baker Mayfield led the Bucs the other way in the final minute, hitting Ryan Miller in the end zone with 27 seconds to go in regulation time.
Tampa Bay (4-5) elected to kick the extra point and force overtime, rather than go for a two-point conversion and the win. And it cost the Buccaneers when Mayfield called tails and the coin flip was heads. Mahomes and the Chiefs took the ball, he was 5-for-5 passing on their drive in overtime, and Hunt finished his 106-yard rushing day with the deciding TD plunge.
Travis Kelce had 14 catches for 100 yards with girlfriend Taylor Swift watching from a suite, and Hopkins finished with eight catches for 86 yards as the Chiefs ran their winning streak to 14 dating to last season. They became the sixth Super Bowl champion to start 8-0 the following season.
Mayfield finished with 200 yards and two TDs passing for the Bucs, who have lost four of their last five.
It was a memorable first half for two players who had been waiting to play in Arrowhead Stadium.
The Bucs’ Rachaad White grew up about 10 minutes away in a tough part of Kansas City, but his family could never afford a ticket for him to see a game. He wound up on a circuitous path through Division II Nebraska-Kearney and a California junior college to Arizona State, where he eventually became of a third-round pick of Tampa Bay in the 2022 draft.
Two year later, White finally got into Arrowhead — and the end zone. He punctuated his seven-yard scoring run in the second quarter, which gave the Bucs a 7-3 lead, by nearly tossing the football into the second deck.
Then it was Hopkins’ turn in his first home game since arriving in Kansas City from a trade with the Titans.
The three-time All-Pro, who already had caught four passes, reeled in a third-down heave from Mahomes amid triple coverage for a 35-yard gain inside the Tampa Bay five-yard line. Three plays later, Mahomes found him in the back of the end zone, and Hopkins celebrated his first TD with the Chiefs with a dance from “Remember the Titans.”
Tampa Bay tried to seize control with consecutive scoring drives to start the second half. The first ended with a TD pass to Cade Otton, the latest tight end to shred the Chiefs, and Chase McLaughlin’s 47-yard field goal gave the Bucs a 17-10 lead.
The Chiefs answered in the fourth quarter. Mahomes marched them through the rain 70 yards for a tying touchdown pass, which he delivered to Samaje Perine while landing awkwardly and tweaking his left ankle, and then threw a laser to Hopkins on third-and-goal from the Buccaneers’ five-yard line to give Kansas City the lead.
Tampa Bay promptly went three-and-out, but its defence got the ball right back, and this time Mayfield calmly led his team down field. His capped the drive with a touchdown throw to Miller — his first career TD catch — with 27 seconds to go, and Tampa Bay elected to play for overtime.
UP NEXT
Buccaneers: Host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday.
