31-year-old Florida resident Yuri Andrade went from just ‘the Super Bowl streaker’ to the smartest man in history after reportedly betting that there would be a streaker at Super Bowl LV.
Instead of waiting to see if there would be a streaker, Yuri of course took matters into his own hands, running on the field during the fourth quarter and securing a $375k payout.
Andrade told a Tampa radio station that he had gotten friends to place wagers from different accounts on the unregulated gambling site, Bovada. They bet that there would be a fan on the field at +750 odds. With several smaller wagers rather than one big $50,000, it’s more conceivable that Andrade could have gotten a healthy wager down on his run.
“I immediately started calling every single person I know and asked them to set up an account with Bovada and place this bet for me,” the man told WILD 94.1 in Tampa. “So I did as many as I (could) and with the difference – I made a phone call to … I don’t want to say, but a big celebrity in Vegas and we asked him to find someone that would take this prop bet for us. So I sent someone to Las Vegas – Sunday morning, 9 a.m., they landed at 11, and rushed over there and bet it for me with the difference of the money.”
According to a report from A.J. Perez at Front Office Sports, Bovada was working to identify accounts that knew of Andrade’s planned stunt.
According to Perez, Bovada is refunding those that wagered there would not be a fan on the field during the game and paying out winning bets for accounts that were not linked to early knowledge of Andrade’s plan. Perez wrote that one bettor who said he had no prior knowledge of the stunt had already had his account shut down by Bovada.
Ultimately, it looks as though Andrade’s plan to bet on himself won’t end up in the big payday that he had hoped for, but it appears he came closer to success than many initially suspected.
“Bovada identified some betting irregularities on our Super Bowl prop ‘will a fan run onto the field during the game?,’” said Bovada Communications Director Ross Stevens. “Our players have always trusted us to ensure the integrity of all props offered in our sportsbook. We will continue to make sure that any publicity stunts or ill-intended behavior cannot adversely affect the outcome of a player’s wager.
