Today marks the one-year anniversary of The Last Dance’s debut. Crazy, right? The documentary series gave us a lot of material to keep busy during the early quarantine stages, that's for sure. Along with a look into the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan’s career, it brought us memes, topics to talk about, and a bit of fascinating betting insight.
Jordan has a storied gambling past and this was touched upon in the ESPN documentary, particularly in the sixth episode.
“I never bet on games,” Jordan said in the series. “I only bet on myself, and that was golf.”
Jordan insisted he did not have a gambling problem, but instead a “competition problem.”
In an article about bookmaking in Chicago during the 1990s published last year, David Purdum wrote about how far Jordan allegedly went to win bets.
“On a road trip in Portland, he reportedly bet teammates $100 that his luggage would come out first at the airport. As the story goes, he bribed a baggage handler to make sure his bags were first. There were allegations of massive losses on the golf course, too, allegations that Jordan has maintained were overblown. When he left the NBA to pursue a baseball career, conspiracy theorists suggested that his gambling was a factor, something both he and former commissioner, the late David Stern, emphatically denied.”
Purdum also wrote about another major betting aspect of Jordan’s Bulls. A streak that will be awfully difficult to top. From November 1995 to June 1997, over the course of two seasons, the Bulls were favored in 185 consecutive games. That is the longest such streak by far.
Chicago went 159-26 outright and 97-87-1 against the spread during that streak. They were also favored by an average of 10.4 points per game, and by less than three points only five times. Pretty impressive, I would say.
Just a few gambling nuggets to remember one year after The Last Dance captivated the world at a time when we needed it the most. Here’s to brighter days and more Michael Jordan memes.
Lucy is a sports betting content producer with Radio.com and BetQL. She has worked with WEEI and Radio.com as a writer, radio producer and podcaster. Lucy lives in Boston and loves Tom Brady and prop bets. Follow Lucy on Twitter at @LucilleBurdge.