Phil Mickelson’s gambling habit (problem?) is more extreme than you might have imagined. That is if the contents of Billy Walters’ upcoming book “Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk” are true.
Walters, who is known for his success as a gambler and entrepreneur, dedicated a section of the book to Mickelson. Golf Digest and The Fire Pit Collective published an excerpt Thursday.
According to the book, Walters sparked a friendship with Mickelson after being paired with him at the 2006 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Mickelson was familiar with Walters’ gambling success and approached him in 2008 about forming a partnership.
That’s when Walters learned just how much of gambler Mickelson was. These are the biggest revelations from the excerpt, claiming Mickelson had bet more than $1 billion in the last three decades. BILLION with a B.
Walters said the only other person he knows with that volume of betting is himself.
If true, this is just an absurdly large amount of money to have bet. I can think of a few ways Mickelson could have put that money to better use.
And his losses are closer to $100 million
Reports place Mickelson’s gambling losses at around $40 million, according to Walters. But he says, based on their relationship and what he’s learned from others, Mickelson’s losses are much closer to $100 million.
Mickelson tried to bet on the Ryder Cup
From the book:
In late September 2012, Phil called me from Medinah Country Club just outside Chicago, site of the 39th Ryder Cup matches between the United States and Europe. He was feeling supremely confident that the American squad led by Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson, and Phil himself was about to reclaim the Cup from the Euros. He was so confident that he asked me to place a $400,000 wager for him on the U.S. team to win.
I could not believe what I was hearing.
“Have you lost your [expletive] mind?” I told him. “Don’t you remember what happened to Pete Rose?” The former Cincinnati Reds manager was banned from baseball for betting on his own team. “You’re seen as a modern-day Arnold Palmer,” I added. “You’d risk all that for this? I want no part of it.’’
“Alright, alright,” he replied.
I have no idea whether Phil placed the bet elsewhere. Hopefully, he came to his senses, especially considering the “Miracle at Medinah.” Trailing 10-6 going into the final day of singles matches, the Europeans pulled off the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history. They won eight matches and tied one to beat the Americans by a single point, 14½ to 13½.
USA’s Phil Mickelson looks over the third green during a practice round at the 2012 Ryder Cup at the Medinah Country Club in Medinah, Illinois. (Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press)
3,154 bets in 2011 alone
That number is not a typo. According to Walters, Mickelson placed over 3,000 bets in one year. That number comes to an average of nine bets per day in 2011.
Between 2011 and 2014, Mickelson placed 7,065 bets on football, basketball, and baseball, according to the excerpt.
On one day in 2011 (June 22), he made forty-three bets on major-league baseball games, resulting in $143,500 in losses.
Bets regularly exceeded five- and six-digit dollar amounts
More from the book:
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.
Walters said Mickelson bet $110,000 to win $100,000 a total of 1,115 times, and he bet $220,00 to win $200,000 on 858 occasions. The sum of all those bets was $311 million.
Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk is set to release on Aug. 22.