It’s no secret to anyone who has followed Phil Mickelson that he is a prolific sports gambler, but it looks like his gambling habits are far more astounding than was ever previously reported.
In his new book, iconic sports gambler Billy Walters – widely considered the most successful sports gambler of all-time – detailed his relationship with Phil Mickelson and also revealed that Mickelson had a history of placing absolutely massive wagers and has wagered “a total of more than $1 billion” over the past three decades.
Here is an excerpt from Walters’ book detailing Mickelson’s absolutely insane gambling habits, via Golf Digest:
After my betting partnership with Phil ended in the spring of 2014, I learned a lot more about his sports gambling from two very reliable sources. They said it was nothing for Phil to bet $20,000 a game on long-shot, five-team NBA parlays. Or wager $100,000 or $200,000 a game on football, basketball, and baseball. Based upon my detailed betting records and additional records provided by the sources, here is a snapshot of Phil’s gambling habit between 2010 and 2014:
• He bet $110,000 to win $100,000 a total of 1,115 times.
• On 858 occasions, he bet $220,000 to win $200,000. (The sum of those 1,973 gross wagers came to more than $311 million.)
• In 2011 alone, he made 3,154 bets—an average of nearly nine per day.
• On one day in 2011 (June 22), he made forty-three bets on major-league baseball games, resulting in $143,500 in losses.
• He made a staggering 7,065 wagers on football, basketball, and baseball.
Based on our relationship and what I’ve since learned from others, Phil’s gambling losses approached not $40 million as has been previously reported, but much closer to $100 million. In all, he wagered a total of more than $1 billion during the past three decades.
He also revealed that Mickelson tried to bet $400,000 on a Ryder Cup in which he was competing.
