The Atlanta Falcons broke the hearts of their fans by somehow blowing a 25-point lead in Super Bowl LI, but they did more than that to the gamblers. Of course, Charles Barkley was among those who supposedly placed a sizable wager on the game.
In an appearance on the “We Never Played the Game” podcast with Jeff Schultz and Zach Klein this week, former Falcons wide receiver Roddy White spoke about how painful Atlanta’s meltdown was for him as a former player, fan and someone who bet on the game. White ended up losing $40,000 on the game in Las Vegas. Barkley bet more than twice that, or so he told White.
“Charles is down there and we’re having fun,” White recalled, according to Brad Rowland of UPROXX. “He’s like ‘I just bet $100K on the Falcons.’ I was like, ‘Don’t worry, just get your chips ready. Everything’s gonna be great.’”
White was very confident in the Falcons pulling the upset, and he remained so right up until Tom Brady and the New England Patriots tied the game with an incredible 91-yard drive in the fourth quarter. The four-time Pro Bowler said he had one friend who bet $25,000 on the Falcons in the first half despite White urging him to bet the game too. That friend made out just fine, as Atlanta took a 21-3 lead into the locker room.
The Falcons were +3 against New England, so everything that had to go wrong did. Even if they lost by a field goal in overtime, the bets would have pushed.
Barkley, of course, is no stranger to losing money in Las Vegas. He loves to gamble, and we doubt the Falcons blowing it made him as angry as his lost bet on a controversial Seahawks-Packers game several years back. Sir Charles will be back at it soon, if he hasn’t been already.
