The internet has been abuzz lately with the “$10 to $10k” challenge, with people looking for ways to turn a little money into a lot in all venues. Obviously, there’s no foolproof way to do this, and any effort is going to be a long shot, but if you’re shooting for it in sports betting, I want to break down my approach.

 

I can talk about how statistically unlikely it is to turn $10 into $10,000 (0.1%). I could tell you that trying is going to hurt your bankroll. Even if I did tell you that, you are going to do it anyway. Rather than discourage you, I am here to offer my help. There is a way to maximize your chance of success, but it requires a thoughtful blueprint and a little bit of fifth-grade math. I’ll do the math, just pay attention to the blueprint. 

There are three steps here based on this weekend’s Super Bowl. Obviously, you aren’t going to be able to go through all three steps, because they build on each other. Rather, this is how to take the next step no matter where you are in the process. This can get you on the road to $10k, or it can be the final step if you’ve already been moving in that direction.

Step 1 — Bet $10 to Win $500

FanDuel’s Bet $5, get $150 in Bonus Bets

Start by signing up and making a $5 bet at FanDuel. They will give you a voucher for a bonus bet of $150. This is where we can take our first big step to $10,000. In order to turn a $150 bonus bet into $500, you would need odds of at +333. Here’s a few examples of bets priced at +333 or better on FanDuel this weekend. 

Hit any one of these with your bonus bet and you now have $500 to move forward. 

Step 2 — The $500 First Bet Insurance

PointsBet $500 second-chance bet
BetRivers $500 second-chance bet

At this point you have two options. You can go the safe route and continue to build the bankroll, or you can take the home run swing. If you are still reading this, you are probably in that home run crowd, so let’s talk about the math of what we need here. $500 at 19-1 would equal our $10,000 goal. If you make your $500 first deposit and lose that 19-1 bet, you would get a $500 bonus bet voucher that would require a 20-1 shot to pay out that same $10,000 goal. By utilizing the first bet bonuses on PointsBet and BetRivers, you can give yourself two swings at hitting that home run instead of one. You still only have about a 5% chance of hitting either of those bets, but it doubles your chances. Here are some bets that can get you that 20-1 payout this weekend:

Or you could just try to find something at +100 to double your money and get to $1,000. With that, you would have the bankroll for Step 3.

 

Step 3 — $1,000 First Bet Insurance 

Caesars’ $1,250 first-bet-back insurance
BetMGM’s $1,000 paid-back bonus bet

At this point, you made it as far up the ladder as you can with the opportunity for second-chance free bets. With $1,000 we now only need to find something at 10-1 to reach the $10,000 goal. Here are a few suggestions:

Playing 10-team parlays to get a 1,000-1 payout is not the best way to turn $10 into $10,000. Taking advantage of bonus bets is. If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. Even if you follow all the rules in this blueprint, it will not be easy. If you do not follow this plan, it’s near impossible.