May 02, 2006

How to Turn Winnings Into Losings: John Daly claims in his new autobiography to have lost at least $50 million gambling, includling $1.5 million playing $5,000 slot machines within days of winning $750,000 in last year's World Golf Championship.

posted by rcade to golf at 12:23 PM - 21 comments

"Now on the first tee, two-time major championship winner, John Daly!" (Daly drops pants and displays GoldenPalace.com tattoo on ass) "Woohoo, I'm back to even, baby!"

posted by wfrazerjr at 12:40 PM on May 02, 2006

What a loser. We're supposed to feel sorry for him? ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....... Was this while he was still drinking, or was this after he quit? Ehh, who cares. When they say he's "Unapologetic", "The only rules I followed were the rules of golf".... What an egotistical buffoon.

posted by LostInDaJungle at 01:00 PM on May 02, 2006

Bad plan.

posted by sfts2 at 01:22 PM on May 02, 2006

Should the PGA allow someone to participate who racks up those kinds of debts? I don't know how much golf betting takes place in sportsbooks, but a player racking up six-figure losses to gamblers might be tempted to throw an event.

posted by rcade at 02:29 PM on May 02, 2006

I think it's impossible to fix a golf game. Daly's so hit or miss, how could you possibly tell? Daly's big problem isn't that he gambles - it's that he's horrible at it. $1.6million on slots?!? SLOTS!?! He's no gambler...

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 03:11 PM on May 02, 2006

I think 50 million is an inflated figure. I doubt even with his appearance fees that he's made 50 million. I can believe he's lost pretty much all his money but I can't believe it's that much.

posted by DvonR at 03:37 PM on May 02, 2006

He said he's not drinking JACK DANIEL"S anymore, not that he stopped drinking. His plan for gambling is insane. What a loser, he will wind up dying drunk and broke

posted by jamesw1633 at 03:37 PM on May 02, 2006

I think 50 million is an inflated figure Think like a drinking, gambling John Daly for a moment. Maybe the 50 million 'lost' was in fact what the bets would have pulled in if they had won.

posted by owlhouse at 06:01 PM on May 02, 2006

Why do sports fans continue to admire moronic behavior? I am reminded of John McEnroe in tennis, but every sport seems to have such candidates.

posted by jcfsyd@sbcglobal.net at 06:37 PM on May 02, 2006

Who cares what he does with his money, he earned it. If he wants to blow it all at the casinos, thats his problem. Idon't think you'll see him in any welfare lines anytime soon

posted by yankee0758 at 07:51 PM on May 02, 2006

Honestly, I feel bad for people with gambling addictions. Hopefully he can get some kind of treatment soon.

posted by redsoxrgay at 04:54 AM on May 03, 2006

I think 50 million is an inflated figure I thought the same thing... The last line says he has Tour earnings of 8.7 million... that leaves over 41 million that he bet, assuming he bet everything he made. That said, if i played golf for a living, i'd be a drunk. I'd gamble, i'd smoke, i'd partake in gentlemen's clubs... And then i'd go back to the casino and drink more.

posted by SummersEve at 06:16 AM on May 03, 2006

SummersEve, I was about to take offence and point out that not all golfers are necessarily hard drinking, heavy smoking, gambling idiots. Then I realised I just spent a three-day weekend playing golf, drinking Jamesons, smoking cigars and losing at cards. I think the $50 million number could be right. Daly has been a big name in the game for getting on 15 years now - he'd only need to be averaging $2.8 million a year in endorsements and appearance fees over that period to have made up the $41 million he'd need to take the figure to fifty. He has won two majors - each of those would have been worth in the region of $5 million in subsequent endorsements. Consider a ratio that expresses how much of your career earnings are made up of prize money and how much of endorsements - all the typical, average pros, who have earnt the same amount of prize money as Daly over the same period would have similar ratios to each other. Daly is a different story. That ratio doesn't apply to Daly - his fame (and therefore, his marketability) is to some extent dependent on his underachieving image. The sponsors would rather sponsor someone in the middle of the field who will probably make the headlines even if he doesn't shoot a score. Another possibility is that the figure includes several potentially lucrative sponsorship deals he could have had if he'd agreed to stop drinking and gambling. I seem to remember Callaway paying off his gambling debts as part of his deal with them on the condition that he stopped gambling. He wasn't sponsored by Callaway for very long. The fact that he played the $5K slots (surely the fastest way in the building to lose money?) is quite telling. I think, perhaps subconsciously, Daly wants rid of fame and its trappings, and spending the money is the only way he can think of to do that - the irony being that losing the money generates more media attention than winning it did in the first place.

posted by JJ at 08:00 AM on May 03, 2006

I think, perhaps subconsciously, Daly wants rid of fame and its trappings, and spending the money is the only way he can think of to do that - Yeah, well maybe next time if you want fame to take a flyer, try not to write a book. However, He likely has pulled in $50 million in 15 years. Appearance fees, corporate events and endorsements make prize money look like a bonus.

posted by WeedyMcSmokey at 08:15 AM on May 03, 2006

Daly wants rid of fame and its trappings, and spending the money is the only way he can think of to do that Send him my address. I can not return $5,000 just as quickly as a slot machine.

posted by yerfatma at 10:02 AM on May 03, 2006

If you play the high roller tables and are up 10 mil at the end of day one, but lose it all and then some over the course of your stay, does that count as losing more than 10 mil?

posted by MW12 at 10:39 AM on May 03, 2006

If at any time, you could have gone home with $10 million, but chose to gamble it instead, you lost $10 million.

posted by bperk at 11:28 AM on May 03, 2006

So the actual shocker here is that he's a fantastic bettor? He could totally fill in for Kenny Rodgers should Kenny not be able to fulfill the duties of The Gambler.

posted by yerfatma at 12:25 PM on May 03, 2006

He's obviously not a very good gambler when all is said and done - because he's apparently lost considerably more than he's won (by approx 50 mil). I just meant to establish that the amount he has lost doesn't necessarily correlate to his golf related earnings.

posted by MW12 at 02:10 PM on May 03, 2006

He could totally fill in for Kenny Rodgers should Kenny not be able to fulfill the duties of The Gambler. Blasphemy! You dare take on the wrath of Kenny's new head?! Besides he isn't alone.

posted by lilnemo at 06:15 PM on May 03, 2006

Good article in the Times the other week when it was revealed that Wayne Rooney likes to gamble (and is bad at it): But the great fallacy about gambling is that it’s for the money. That is only the case if you are a professional gambler. And being a professional gambler doesn’t sound like much fun to me, it’s all about understanding the moment when the odds are right and selecting the appropriate stake. There is a beauty in that, but it’s a high, cold, remote kind of perfection. The mug punters — me and Rooney — pile in for the sheer hell of it. The mug punter knows the great truth of gambling: that the most exciting thing in life is winning and the second most exciting thing is losing.

posted by JJ at 04:59 AM on May 04, 2006

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