A 24-year-old sports bettor from Chicago claims he is owed $800,000 from betting giant Caesars Entertainment. Thomas McPeek has been embroiled in a legal battle with Caesars over a series of winning bets that should have netted him almost $1 million, he revealed to CBS . McPeek, an aspiring professional gambler living with his parents in the suburbs of the Windy City, placed the bets between August and September of 2023 and has been trying to cash the tickets since. Caesars returned him his initial $50,000 stake, but is refusing to pay out his winnings because it says he broke two of its fine-print rules. McPeek placed the winning bets at Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Ind., and Isle Casino across the border in Bettendorf, Iowa. The bets were accepted, though McPeek says he placed them at a kiosk rather than a window and wore a disguise so he wouldn’t raise any suspicion. “I pull out cash from Chase Bank. I take about $20,000,” McPeek said in an interview with CBS News. “I sat at the kiosk for four hours just punching in my bets — bet after bet after bet after bet after bet.” The jaded bettor had previously won – and was paid out – $127,000 at the FanDuel-operated Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, Ind., and was subsequently banned, something that commonly happens to so-called advantage players. The rules that Caesars claims McPeek broke are commonplace at sportsbooks and casinos around the country, but they are vague. The first is dubbed “cross-state coordination” and prevents players from making coordinated bets across state lines. The second rule that Caesars alleges McPeek broke is called “structuring,” and it prevents players from breaking down large bets into several smaller ones. Sportsbooks and casinos prohibit this act because it is often used as a tactic in money laundering. The decision has split the betting community. Some are siding with Caesars, saying that they have the right to void the bets because they were against the house rules. Others believe Caesars should honor the wagers since the sportsbook initially accepted them, and they only voided the tickets after the bets won. “It’s not like I can just snap my fingers and just make the bets win,” McPeek explained to CBS. “They still have to win.”
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