The man who made the wild gamble for Tiger Woods to win the Masters is now $1.19 million richer, but the road to becoming a millionaire took more than Woods making the ultimate comeback.
James Adducci, a 39-year-old from Wisconsin, said he didn't have the $85,000 on hand when he gambled that Woods would win the Masters. In fact, he said that as of Christmas Day 2018, he was $25,000 in debt after his protein supplement business had gone under.
He said he sold some Amazon stock and used what little he had left in his business to scrap together the money to make the wager.
"A month before is when I knew I was going to do it," Adducci said, via Golf Digest. "I had been thinking a lot about this. I watched Tiger's performance at the Tour Championship, and things seemed to be going his way. I looked at how well he did there, and some other factors you can't put stats behind. It wasn't about the stats for me. The fact that this was going to be his first major in front of his kids, I was convinced he would win."
He said this was the first sports wager he has ever made.
Adducci told Action Network he flew from Wisconsin to Las Vegas earlier in the week to place the bet. He went to two different sportsbooks before he settled on the SLS Casino. It was the only sportsbook he went to that would let him wager that high.
Once he got the green light from the sportsbook that they would take such a high bet, he went to a local WalMart, bought a backpack, then went to the bank to withdraw $85,000 in cash to fill it up.
On his Lyft ride back to the casino, he shared a ride "to save $2" with a mother and child who were pondering their own financial issues out loud.
“I felt sick, knowing that I had $85,000 in my backpack and they were talking like this,” Adducci said. “If I see them again, I would help them out.”
Once Adducci flew home and settled in to watch the Masters, he said he was a nervous wreck all week. As Sunday's final round drew to a close, he realized that not only was Woods on the verge of a momentous comeback, he was about to win one of the biggest cash payouts in history.
He said he woke his elderly father up from screaming like a "madman," alarming the neighbors and texted his wife that Woods did it.
"I just thought it was pre-destined for him to win," Adducci said.
What does Adducci plan to do with his new winnings? He said nothing too crazy — he said he and his wife want new garage doors and he's going to pay off their debt.
"I'm a responsible guy," he said. "My background is finance. I'm going to invest most of it. And we're going to grow it."