Cubs Fans Still Too Happy to Cash In World Series Betting Slips

While many sappy Chicago Cubs fans would tell you that winning the first World Series in 108 years was priceless, a significant amount of them are backing up those words with actions — like not cashing in their winning betting slips.

"Thousands of bets were placed on the Cubs to win the 2016 World Series, more than double the amount of bets on any other team, sportsbooks said. Bookmaker CG Technology, which operates at the Venetian, Cosmopolitan and several other casinos, took roughly 4,000 bets on the Cubs to win the World Series last year. In May, when the 180-day deadline to turn in the bets passed, more than 30 percent of the tickets on the Cubs had not been cashed. “When we saw the number, we were just all extremely surprised at how big it was,” Jason Simbal, vice president of risk for CG Technology, said. “We went back and had to check like three times to make sure there was no mistake.”"

Vegas wins again, after years of happily taking misguided longshot bets on the Cubs to win it all. Most of the wagers placed were small in nature, with $26 being the average. But there are some significant paydays ($3,600) that went unclaimed.

And you know what? The whole thing makes a lot of sense. Obviously a sane person would rather have thousands of dollars, but those with modest payouts faced some hard decisions. They grew understandably attached to that piece of paper as the impossible dream came closer to reality.

Of course, uh, the book could just make copies. Guess there’s nothing like the real thing, baby.