Unexpected Problems With Cashing My Winning Sports Betting Tickets at the Hawthorne Racecourse

If you discovered that a sportsbook made an error and offered a clear advantage play, how much would you/should you wager?

To be clear, an “advantage play” means a wager where the odds dictate the payout is clearly in the players’ favor.

I faced that wonderful dilemma and dream scenario recently. Here's the full story.

Meet “Kevin X” at Hawthorne

Just before kickoff in this year’s AFC Conference Championship game, my cell phone rang. It was a friend who lives in Chicago. I'll refer to the caller as "Kevin X," because his last name is really tough to pronounce, as in, it’s one of those strange-sounding Eastern European names with letters where they don't belong that Chicago is so infamous for, plus non-disclosure keeps his identity private -- well, sorta’ private. If you know "Kevin X," this all makes perfect sense.

Kevin X was standing inside the affiliated sportsbook at the Hawthorne Racecourse and studying the giant odds board. That's a horse track located in Cicero, IL -- probably most famous as Al Capone's organized crime war zone a century ago. Kevin X saw a rare opportunity to pull off his own sweet racket, a bet that was perfectly legal to make and open to wagering. But he also had to act quickly. The odds could change at any moment and kickoff was approaching.

The Kansas City Chiefs were playing at the Baltimore Ravens. At Hawthorne , the defending Super Bowl champions were underdogs. Kansas City was listed at +175 on the moneyline. That meant a $100 wager returned $175 in profit. But the Chiefs had to win the game outright. No points were involved. Moreover, the Chiefs were also listed at 7-2 odds to win the Super Bowl, which translated to +350 on a futures bet. The odds on both of those wagers were accurate and in line with the numbers at sportsbooks nationally (Note: I live in Las Vegas and do most of my betting here).

Kevin X was shocked to discover he could parlay these two wagers, a prospect that seemed incomprehensible under normal sportsbook rules since the two wagers weren't just correlated -- they were practically linked to the same outcome (Kansas City winning the AFC Championship, then winning the Super Bowl). In fact, the Chiefs couldn't win the Super Bowl unless they first won the conference championship game. That's what's meant by a "correlated" parlay.

My friend made a small wager totalling $25 as a test bet. Kevin X was eager to see if the modest-sized wager was accepted. He also wanted to see the actual printout on the ticket -- that this wasn't a mistake and the payout was real. Incredibly, a payout that should have paid $82.50 was, in fact, paying a whopping $309.40.

Kevin X made three more identical bets. All were accepted. He had $100 in action on the Kansas City Chiefs.

What Would You Do?

Kevin X phoned me seeking a second opinion. He wanted to know if he was missing something. It seemed too good to be true. At first, I thought this parlay had to be incorrect. There's no way a major sports betting operation would make an error like this. However, in the event the moneyline bet on the underdog was allowed along with a futures wager on the same team, then I certainly wanted a piece of the action, if available.

Now, the question was -- how much should we risk? How much can we bet without raising unwanted attention? What kinds of bet slips should we get in what precise amounts so as to be guaranteed they'll be cashed? Gee, it would really suck to "win" our bet only to face a prickly manager at the payout window explaining the entire bet was voided and wouldn't be honored (yes, that does happen sometimes when errors happen).

Should Kevin X pluck down another $100? Or, $500? Or, $1,000? Or, more? Given the huge overlay on the payout, the sky would be the limit if the bet was allowed and would be guaranteed. Accordingly, we settled on $500 as a reasonable investment. This wouldn't put the sportsbook at any severe risks, nor would it raise red flags. But it also provided us with a nice opportunity for a handsome payout.

Kansas City Chiefs -- Super Bowl LVIII Champions!

That day, Kansas City upset Baltimore 17-10. Then two weeks later, the Chiefs upset the 49ers 25-22 in an even more thrilling Super Bowl. I still can't believe Kansas City was an underdog in both of those games. Needless to say, winning that last unexpected ticket was a great way to end the NFL season. My cut of the action at the Hawthorne Racetrack came to $1,237.60. So, I was paid in excess of 12-1 odds on Kansas City winning the Super Bowl when the bet was made with still two games to go, which was more than triple what the normal payout should have been.

On one hand, the win was only $1,237.60. Thing was, he/we did that amount five times. So, the payout was closer to 6 grand. A big operation like Hawthorne wasn't going to bat an eyelash or go broke over that, and besides, it's actually a major sports betting company that's subcontracted inside the racetrack as the licensed operator, but I won't get into all that. I hold winning sports tickets in my hand. Pay me my money.

Now, it was time to collect. The real drama and sweat had only begun.

Chicago – We Have a Problem….Getting Paid

There's an old true tale told by the great poker legend Doyle Brunson, who I knew well and interviewed more than a dozen times. Back in his early days in the 1950s when he traveled around Texas and other parts of the South as a professional poker player beating illegal backroom high-stakes games, Doyle won on most of the occasions when he sat down to play. But winning at the card table was only the first part of the much longer and tougher game. Confronted several times with loaded shotguns, crooked game runners, and bandits, Doyle used to say, "winning the money was easy, but getting out the door with the cash was the real challenge."

During Super Bowl weekend, Kevin X met me in Las Vegas and gave me my share of the tickets. I didn't anticipate traveling to Chicago anytime in the near future. So, I exercised my legal option by choosing to mail in the tickets. For convenience's sake, all US licensed sportsbooks provide winners with an opportunity to mail in tickets, which usually results in a check being issued, then sent to the winner. It’s usually fast and easy. In the past, I've mailed in several winning tickets, without incident.

But this winning ticket was headed to Cicero, IL. I didn’t want any surprises.

For an envelope that normally required a single postage stamp, it cost me $28 to insure the letter and send via registered mail directly to the Hawthorne Racecourse. This was well worth the protection. Al Capone used to offer protection for a price. My protection was paid to the United States Postal Service.

The day after the Super Bowl game, the registered mail departed the local post office in Las Vegas headed for Cicero, IL and the Hawthorne Racecourse. Delivery time was announced as three days.

One week went by. Two weeks passed. Fourteen days turned to 15, then 16, then 17. I waited. And waited. And worried.

No check. No mail from the racetrack. Not even the registered letter's signature card. Nothing. Standing empty-handed out in front of my mailbox every afternoon, I ran out of curse words.

Three weeks after I mailed the letter, I contacted Hawthorne via email. To my pleasant surprise, the sportsbook staff was responsive and even helpful. They informed me that no tickets as described had ever arrived at Hawthorne. They had no record of my registered letter. That letter was worth $1,237 – and now it was missing!

The Missing Letter

Fortunately, with registered mail, the sender is given a receipt. That's proof. Plus, I photographed the winning tickets. Though inconvenienced, this wasn't time for alarm. Not yet.

Given Hawthorne's disclosure that no envelope had ever arrived (and there was no reason to doubt them), my next step was filling out a missing letter report and requesting a postal investigation. This idea struck me as a nightmare. If a racetrack was tough to deal with over such a long-distance, what would my chances be like corresponding with the gigantic U.S. Post Office? Would they even respond? Was this a waste of my time? I began to fear the outcome might have been the same if Kansas City had lost the Super Bowl. After all, if you can't cash a winning ticket, well -- that's a losing ticket.

Lost and Found

On March 16th, nearly five weeks after mailing away the sports ticket, my phone rang.

Caller ID: Cicero, IL. I stumbled over myself to answer the call.

“Hello, can you hear me now?”

A worker at the Cicero Post Office informed me that my registered letter was indeed lost, but had since been found! As pissed off as I would have been in any other situation, instead, I felt elated. The postal worker managed to locate the lost registered mail, and even apologized. I wish I'd been there to meet the postal worker. I would have tipped her. She told me the post office was sending a carrier to hand deliver the letter to the Hawthorne Racecourse. Huh? What? This was the post office! Who would have expected service like that? {Note: Later, I contacted postal authorities and thanked the worker in writing, offering my gratitude).

Sure enough, the following day a worker at the Hawthorne Racecourse emailed me and stated the envelope with my winning tickets had arrived intact. I wish I'd been there to meet the payout clerk. I would have tipped him.

Two days ago, the check finally arrived. By regular mail. Hey, why bother with the extra $28 bucks?

The Satisfied Customer

I'm not sure if I handled this situation in the best possible way. After all, I did take advantage of an apparent mistake by the racetrack. But, I didn't break any laws, either. Also, I could just have easily lost the bet, in which case the racetrack would have gladly kept my money. There's also a fairly loud voice inside that says I should have bet ten times the amount based on those generous odds and then collected my winnings with absolutely no guilt. Sports gambling can be a cutthroat business.

The experience did teach me two things, as well. I developed an appreciation for the post office and especially someone working inside the Cicero location who miraculously found a lost letter. I also must commend the Hawthorne Racecourse and its staff for the thoroughly professional manner in which they handled this mishap. If and when they read this, please accept my gratitude.

I feel kinda bad about this. No, actually I don’t feel bad at all. In fact, I feel great.

Winning is tough enough. Plenty of people win money, possessions, lawsuits, and judgements. But collecting is the ultimate victory.

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About the Writer: Always opinionated and often controversial, Nolan Dalla writes pretty much whatever he wants. His betting advice, gambling stories, restaurant reviews, movie opinions, political diatribes, heartfelt tributes, and personal insults can be found daily at his website: nolandalla.com. Nolan also goes on massive tilt when losing, and is known for some epic, profanity-laden rants. He'll be contributing regularly to Betcoin.