“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.”
That Wayne Gretzky quote explains why most people bet. They believe that they have to shoot their shot at the chance of that major payday, the one that will multiply their bank balance and might even buy them a holiday, car, or even house.
it’s also highly likely you will miss the shots you do take when it comes to gambling
Well, while you might miss 100% of the shots you don’t take, it’s also highly likely you will miss the shots you do take when it comes to gambling.
The members of the VegasSlotsOnline News bad bets list learned this fact the hard way this year. They all staked their money on sports over the course of 2025 and lost substantial sums, often through wild comebacks or against-the-odds plays.
Check out the bad bettors of 2025 below, and maybe take a lesson or two from their miserable luck.
Losing $25,000 Trying to Win $25
In our most recent instance of a bad bet, one crazy gambler decided to stake it all to win very little. The unnamed gambler wagered $25,000 on prediction market platform Polymarket. He backed the Pittsburgh Penguins to beat the San Jose Sharks in the NHL this month.
Since it was placed during the game, in which the Penguins had secured a comfortable lead by the third, the $25,000 bet would have only returned $25. To the dismay of the bettor, the Sharks completed an insane comeback to beat the Penguins 6-5.
The bet gained traction online, as X users expressed their shock at the gamble:
It wasn’t just any normal comeback; the Sharks rallied from four points down in the third to beat the Penguins in overtime. They scored five straight goals after Pittsburgh gained their 5-1 lead at 5:25 in the third.
Losing $15,000 as LeBron Streak Ends
There is nothing worse than losing a bet that seems an absolute sure-thing. Well, that’s what happened to one bettor when they placed a $15,000 wager on LeBron James to score at least ten points against the Toronto Raptors earlier this month.
a crazy streak of 1,297 games in which he has hit that ten-point total
Since he first started in the NBA as an 18-year-old for the Cleveland Cavaliers, James has always shown his value on the scoreboard. He racked up a crazy streak of 1,297 games in which he has hit that ten-point total, dating all the way back to January 6, 2007.
The unnamed bettor decided to take advantage of this “inevitability.” He placed a $15,000 wager with DraftKings Sportsbook for James to hit 10+ points for the Los Angeles Lakers. The bet paid out just $576.92 in profit at -2600 odds, demonstrating the risk the gambler was willing to take.
Ultimately, the Lakers beat the Raptors 123-120, but despite playing 36 minutes in total, James only managed to score eight points. He had the chance to score in the final seconds of a tie game, but he made the choice to pass to a teammate in a better position.
The Drake Curse Continues
If you have been following VSO News for a while, then you will know about the “Drake Curse.” Canadian rap superstar Drake doesn’t just spend his time playing arenas around the world, he also places substantial bets, whether its on roulette, slots, or sports. However, he takes many big losses, often against the odds.
This year, the “Drake Curse” continued. He backed Jannick Sinner to claim back-to-back US Open tennis titles earlier this year to the tune of an eye-watering $300,000. That’s $300,000 that he saw washed down the drain when Carlos Alcaraz beat Sinner in four sets.
lost a fortune backing the Baltimore Ravens to beat the Buffalo Bills
That wasn’t the only time Drake lost though. He also lost a fortune backing the Baltimore Ravens to beat the Buffalo Bills in September.
The rapper, who is partnered with crypto casino Stake and often streams with the likes of Roshtein and Xposed, wagered $250,000+ on the game. He stood to get $460,509 back but lost it all when the Bills came back from down 40-25 in the fourth quarter.
Drake did win too though. Notably, he took $100,000 off Adin Ross after a female bodybuilder managed to outcurl the streamer in April.
Losing $43,000 Going Against Rory McIlroy
It has been an incredible year for Northern Irish golfer Rory McIlroy.
The fan favorite caused many a grown man to shed a tear in May when he finally took home the win in the Masters and competed the career Grand Slam. He had to beat Justin Rose in a sudden-death-play-off to do just that, and one bettor was hoping he wouldn’t come out on top.
the bet would have paid out just $5,750 if the golfer had failed to win
The gambler staked $44,250 on McIlroy not to win the Masters before the event began. Since 35-year-old McIlroy had never managed to bag the top spot in his entire career, the bet would have paid out just $5,750 if the golfer had failed to win. Well, the rest is history…
Train Loses the Largest Bet Ever Placed on Counter-Strike
Gambling streamer Trainwreckstv is used to breaking records by now. In July, he landed the biggest online slot win of all time at $37.5m, just before Roshtein broke that same record with his $45.4m. He also holds the second-largest online roulette win of all time at $1.2m, behind only Drake. But Train broke another record this year for which he will not be so grateful.
The Texan streamer placed a $5m+ wager on Team Falcons in Counter-Strike. He bet that they would beat FURIA Esports in their matchup in November at odds of -118. Those odds mean he stood to win more than $9m from the wager, but it wasn’t to be as Team Falcons lost their match and Train lost his cash.
It turns out it was the largest bet ever placed in Counter Strike history, placed through Train’s partner crypto casino Stake. Fans of Train are used to seeing him gamble away millions of dollars on slots in his popular streams though, so this won’t come as a major surprise to them.
Losing $22,000 Through a Mis-Click
While our other list inclusions were simply the result of bad choices, our final wager was a mistake. We’re going to venture away from sports betting for this one, since it was just too heartbreaking not to include.
accidentally clicked the max stake button, lumping his entire Roobet balance
Kick streamer Doug was playing on Mines on Roobet live on stream in August. The popular content creator was initially wagering $563 per round on Plinko before switching to Mines, still a large amount to stake. However, he then accidentally clicked the max stake button, lumping his entire Roobet balance of around $22,000 onto the game.
He lost the entire balance in a couple of seconds, showing just how quickly it can all go wrong for these major gambling streamers. “Did I really just do that??” Doug asked his streaming partners in disbelief. He ended the stream shortly after the mistake.
