Bettor hits $200 Jets-Bengals money-line parlay for $19K

After the Bengals stunned the Steelers as two-touchdown underdogs Monday the day after the Jets (+17) pulled off a huge upset of the Rams, many bettors wondered what a money-line parlay of the two long shots would have paid.

All Michael Kipness had to do was look at his ticket.

Kipness and his business partner placed a $200 parlay of the Jets (+1,100) and Bengals (+700) at the William Hill sportsbook at Harrah’s that paid $19,000 — a 95-1 long shot.

The money line is the odds on a team to win a game, regardless of the spread.

The Summerlin resident, 63, also hit a $200 first-half money-line parlay on the Jets (+475) and Bengals (+370) at Harrah’s that paid $5,205 — a 26-1 hit.

So what possessed Kipness and his friend to parlay two teams that entered the week with a combined 2-23-1 record?

“We had our reasoning for it. We’re very psychological in our handicapping and kind of go against the grain,” he said. “But I would be lying to say we expected to win the bet. It was a hope and a prayer.”

Kipness said they placed larger straight bets on New York (1-13) and Cincinnati (3-10-1).

“The main reason we liked the Jets as 17-point ’dogs was because it was the greatest trap game,” Kipness said. “The Rams were coming off an emotional win over the Patriots, and they had the 0-13 Jets and then a look-ahead game against Seattle this weekend that could determine the division winner.

“This was the perfect storm for an upset.”

New York led 13-3 at halftime and held on for a 23-20 win when Los Angeles turned the ball over on downs at the Jets’ 37-yard line with four minutes left.

“Monday’s game was even better,” Kipness said. “You had the Steelers not playing well going into this game. This was the standalone Monday night game. For the Bengals, this was their Super Bowl. This was a double-digit home division ’dog playing with same season revenge.

“And the guy (Pittsburgh’s JuJu Smith-Schuster) does a victory war dance on their emblem before the game.”

Kipness’ business partner lives in Chicago but visited Las Vegas last weekend. They watched Monday’s game together for the first time this season at Kipness’ house, where they barely broke a sweat on their bets until the final minutes.

Cincinnati led 17-0 at halftime, cashing the first-half parlay. But Pittsburgh quickly cut the deficit to 17-10 in the second half.

“We thought they could win after the first half, and then the momentum completely switched,” Kipness said. “We knew we were going to cover the spread, but we didn’t know if we would win.”

The Steelers trailed 24-17 when they got the ball back with a chance to tie with 2:16 left. Ben Roethlisberger threw three straight incompletions before the two-minute warning. Pittsburgh faced fourth-and-10, but Kipness was still worried.

“We’ve been on the wrong side of 15 last-second losses this season, every bad beat,” he said. “What if they scored or there was a pass interference or roughing the passer? We would’ve had to sweat out another bad beat.”

But there was no bad beat this time. Only a miracle parlay days before Christmas. Roethlisberger’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete, and the Bengals sealed their 27-17 win on Austin Seibert’s 33-yard field goal with 12 seconds left.

“We were jumping up and down and hugging each other,” Kipness said. “It’s not just about the money. It’s the camaraderie, though that bet takes care of a lot of those last-second losses.”

Kipness, aka “The Wizard,” has been a professional horse racing handicapper since 1987 who has been featured in The New York Times. He moved to Las Vegas from Connecticut last year and started selling sports picks this season on his website, Wizardraceandsports.com, with his partner, aka Dr. Alan.

“I’m happy to have been in this game so long. It’s a tough game,” Kipness said. “But like they said in ‘The Color of Money,’ money won is twice as sweet as money earned.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.