VSiN host can win $130K in futures bets on Florida-Houston title game

VSiN host Mitch Moss thought he had missed his chance to bet on Florida at long odds to win the men’s college basketball national championship.

“I was super high on them early in the year. But I initially watched their odds drop from 60-1 to 40-1 and lower than that without betting them,” said Moss (@MitchMossRadio). “I said, ‘I missed 60-1 so now I’m not betting 40-1.’ Dumb.”

The longtime Las Vegas sports talk radio host won another chance to win big on the Gators when he got a free roll on the NCAA Tournament champion in a bracket buster blackjack tournament at Circa hosted by owner Derek Stevens and vice president of operations Mike Palm.

Moss finished second in the 16-player event in early March. After the winner went with Duke (+315) in the futures draft, Moss used his prize, a $15,000 bet, on Florida at +725.

“It was my chance to make up for missing those numbers (early in the year),” he said. “Plus, I was going for a higher payout with the free roll. Florida was +725 at the time, and a team like Auburn was about half that.”

Florida is a 1-point favorite over Houston in Monday’s title game and the total is 141.

If the Gators prevail, Moss will win $108,750 on his free bet and a total of more than $130,000 overall as he also has Florida on a future ticket at 16-1.

“I’ll be hedging Monday,” he said.

WagerTalk owner Kelly Stewart also will cash a big ticket if the Gators win. The former Barstool Sports handicapper has $1,175 to win $47,000 riding on Florida to cut down the nets at 40-1. She placed the bet in December.

Stewart also has a future ticket on Houston at 10-1 and plans to bet more on the Cougars on Monday to lock in a profit of $25,000 regardless of which team wins.

“Florida was lucky to beat UConn, Florida was lucky to beat Texas Tech and Florida was lucky to beat Auburn,” said Stewart (@KellyinVegas). “So I think this is like a gift from the gambling gods and they say, ‘Kelly, don’t be greedy. Take your guaranteed money.’”

A BetMGM gambler has a $100,000 wager to win $900,000 riding on the Gators (9-1) to win it all.

Final Four

Florida erased an eight-point halftime deficit en route to a 79-73 victory over Auburn and covered as a 2-point favorite in Saturday’s first national semifinal. The Gators, who trailed by nine in the second half, reached odds of +250 on the live money line at Caesars Sportsbook.

The game stayed under the total of 158½ to snap Florida’s 11-game over streak.

Houston, which closed as a 4½-point underdog to Duke, wiped out a 14-point deficit over the final eight minutes in a stunning 70-67 victory.

The Cougars trailed 64-55 with less than three minutes left before closing the game on a 15-3 run. Houston’s live money line odds soared as high as 25-1 and its title odds skyrocketed to 50-1 at one point.

The win by Houston snapped a 13-game winning streak by favorites, who suffered their first outright loss since the second round.

“We finally got a ‘dog to win. It broke up a lot of parlays. There were a ton of Florida-Duke parlays and we took some big bets on Duke’s team total over 70½,” Westgate vice president of race and sports John Murray said. “I have no idea how that stayed under but it did. They made one field goal in the last 10½ minutes of the game.

“But it really sets us up in a pretty bad future position. We don’t really have a good position on Houston or Florida.”

The Cougars’ comeback win carried Caesars to its biggest winning day of the NCAA Tournament.

“Following a period of consistent betting activity from the bettors backing the favorites and cashing each round, the Final Four was a different story,” Caesars college basketball trader Patrick Berbert said. “The game between Houston and Duke proved to be particularly lucrative as bettors had been consistently supporting what seemed to be an unbeatable Duke team throughout the tournament, continuing to back them in their matchup against Houston.”

The early betting action Sunday on the title game was balanced, with ticket counts at Caesars equal on the spread and money line. The total had ticked down a point from the opener of 142.

“It’s a total toss-up,” Murray said. “Some of the guys in our room said Florida -1 and some said Houston -1.”

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