After a late missed field goal in Jaguars-Texans this weekend led to the game’s total score hitting the under, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo ran into the New York City streets to blow off some steam.
Russo walked First Take viewers through his bad beat on Wednesday before revealing how many tens of thousands of dollars he has coughed up in total lifelong losses on gambling.
“I threw things,” Russo shouted. “I was so upset.”
Then cohosts Stephen A. Smith, Molly Qerim and Marcus Spears pressed Russo on just how much money he has lost betting on sports over the years.
Qerim threw out $50,000 and Spears threw out $100,000 before Russo fessed up to a number in the range between their guesses.
https://twitter.com/ActionNetworkHQ/status/1729927408474599669?s=20
Russo wouldn’t pinpoint the exact number, but that’s probably because he doesn’t know it.
Anyone betting a five-leg NFL parlay featuring Jaguars-Texans over midway through the season is surely a degenerate. And knowing Russo gets $10,000 a week for First Take plus a cushy Sirius XM deal, a unit for the Mad Dog is probably much higher than the average bettor.
Sports media personalities unveiling their betting losses is nothing new.
Earlier this year, Darren Rovell posted a screenshot of his Action Network bet tracker indicating he lost more than $17,000 since downloading it. Nearly a decade ago, Charles Barkley claimed he lost as much as $30 million gambling after retirement from the NBA.
If anything, sportsbooks should recruit these personalities for their PSAs. And then the media hosts can turn around and put that right back into another parlay.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.