The Nick Wright gambling show might have BetMGM changing their earnings reports.
Fox Sports’ on-air talent featured in the Emmy-nominated show “First Things First,” had a wild weekend in Las Vegas that started with him attending David Benavidez dismantling Gilberto Ramirez last Saturday and ended with him placing a massive wager that has turned heads.
Wright, a big-time poker player, who first explained part of the story on the Bill Simmons Podcast on Tuesday, told The Post in a phone interview Thursday that he is sitting on a $10,000 bet on the Minnesota Timberwolves to win the NBA Finals at 200/1 odds, with a win profiting $2 million — though he had some help during this wild weekend.
“I was in Vegas to go to a fight with Nick Schulman, who happens to be literally the world’s best poker player,” Wright began. “He also happens to be the sharpest boxing guy in the world. We had sick seats for the Benavidez fight. We’re in a gambling chat with (poker player) Taylor von Kriegenbergh, also known as “TV K” and another person. On Friday night, I get to Vegas. I play cards until late. I win. I have a little extra money in my pocket.”
Wright explained that he played some more poker Saturday morning at the Aria Resort and Casino and ultimately made his way over to the BetMGM sportsbook to place his bets on the boxing match and the Kentucky Derby –– when the NBA Championship odds caught the corner of his eye.
“They’re already in round two, and I’m like, ‘That’s just wrong, that can’t be right,'” Wright said when he saw the Timberwolves’ odds. “I check the betting odds, and all of the sports betting apps have between 150 to 200/1. That’s wrong. The Lakers are 28/1, have to play (the Thunder), they don’t have their best player. I saw five years ago Giannis (Antetokounmpo) suffer the same injury during Game 4 of the (Eastern) Conference finals. He started Game 1 of the Finals eight days later. I think Ant Edwards will play at some point this series.”
Wright then went to his gambling chat cohorts to discuss.
“I text Nick and Taylor, ‘Hey, I’m going to make this bet. A big bet. Do you guys want a piece?’ They can’t believe it either; they’re going back and forth,” he said.
“We want to see if they will take $10k to win $2 million. Everyone is skeptical that they will take that much. Whatever, we will start big and work backward from there.”
Management had to come over and approve this big wager, though Wright points out that he doesn’t believe that casinos have him flagged as a sharp bettor, but rather that he is just a big poker guy.
“The lady at the window was also stunned,” Wright explained. “She said, ‘I have to get authorization on this. Anything that pays out over a million, I need authorization.'”
“She waits, the manager comes over, and then they say ‘You’re all good,'” Wright continued. “I was shocked. I hand them two $5k flags from the night before and stick the ticket in my wallet.”
Where things have really gotten interesting is that Edwards, whom many thought would miss the series with an injury, quickly got upgraded to questionable Sunday morning.
“Just on that news alone, they went down to 130/1. A few hours later to 90/1. And then the next morning (Monday), they moved to 80/1,” Wright said.
Edwards did wind up playing in Game 1 on Monday night and Minnesota secured the 104-102 upset.
The ticket value suddenly skyrocketed, as the Timberwolves’ odds to win the finals shortened to 30/1.
He claims he could have sold that ticket for roughly $65,000 at the time, though he added that he “doesn’t believe” in doing that.
After a Game 2 loss Wednesday to even the series at 1-1, DraftKings has the Timberwolves to win the NBA Finals at 40/1, meaning his ticket is worth roughly $48,780 at the time of writing.
However, for the time being, we have a $10,000 wager to win $2 million.
Lost in this wild story is that Wright was regaling The Post with tales about playing poker with legend Phil Hellmuth, among others.
“I play a lot of real poker,” Wright explained. “I played in “No Gamble No Future” on stream. Bought in for $25K cashed out for $162K. I play all of the mixed games and high-stakes no-limit games. Coolest perks of the job are a lot of the best games in Vegas, these days, are held at private games inside the casino.”
Wright said that he gets invited to all of these high-stakes poker events.
“Maybe it’s because I’m a fish,” he joked. “But I don’t think that’s the case.”
He added that Friday night he won enough at poker to cover the entire $10,000 bet himself.
Wright concluded that he’s not a big trash talker, like Hellmuth, who has had some all-time great crashouts of his own, though the two once played heads up for $50,000.
“I lost,” Wright said.
Still, Wright says he’s a bit old school in his playing style.
“I’m not a pro. If I’m in Vegas, I’m having a drink or two. I have fun with it and gamble more than a lot of high-stakes players,” he continued. “I’m not afraid to pay someone to show me a card during the game.”
Minnesota hosts the Spurs for Game 3 on Friday night, where Wright and the rest of his poker syndicate will be looking with a close eye on the prize.
Erich Richter is a brazilian jiu-jitsu blue belt but he has a black belt in MMA betting. During the football season he’s showcased massive profits at The Post in the player prop market the last two seasons. While constantly betting long shots, his return on investment is 30.15 percent since 2022.
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