One More Bet To Get Local Gambler Back On Track

TEMPE, AZ--After losing close to $500 on a total of four NFL games on Sunday, gambler Ray Watson admitted that he made some unwise, foolish wagers. Still he refuses to back down, and will now focus his energies on recouping his money with a blockbuster bet on Monday night. The blockbuster bet is expected to get Watson “back on track”.

“Yea I had a tough day on Sunday, but that’s all in the past,” said Watson, 29. “I thought for sure the Bengals would cover versus Baltimore and I figured that Green Bay would hang in against the Colts. In retrospect, I don’t know what I was thinking. Baltimore has the best defense in the league and the Colts are just on fire right now. It’s my own damn fault for being so stupid and shortsighted. I lost everything. I have no money to pay the bookie. So it looks like I’ve got to really buckle down and make a good bet tonight.”

Watson, a file clerk at a local hospital, has been gambling on NFL games for close to a decade. He is expected to draw on that experience tonight when he makes a “can’t miss” proposition on the Washington Redskins.

“This is one of those games that seems like it’s going to be close, but in the end I think the ‘Skins will run away with it,” said Watson. “It’s just a hunch, but I think that Joe Gibbs really wants to beat Parcells tonight and he’s gonna have his teammates fired up. Plus, I was watching the pre-game show and they really did look fired up. Lavarr Arrington was jumping around like that guy from the Under Armour ad. That’s a clear sign that these guys will have the emotional edge tonight. So I’m taking the ‘Skins and the under tonight. If I lose, I pretty much have to leave the state. But that’s not gonna happen. I won’t have that defeatist attitude.”

As a gambler, Ray Watson likes to study league trends as a way to gauge what’s going to happen from week to week. He cites extensive research and study as the main reason behind his historic win streak of 2002, even though it was followed by a historic losing streak in 2003.

“2002 was a great year for me because I had the trends locked down,” said Watson. “It was almost like I was clairvoyant. I just knew what was going to happen. In 2003 things changed and some of the trends started reversing themselves and I wasn’t able to make the adjustment. But I’m going to have a huge year this year, starting with tonight’s game. And if I don’t win tonight, you probably won’t be hearing from me for a while.”

Watson’s girlfriend, Karen Altman, has been urging him to stop making football wagers since the beginning of their relationship in 2003. Now that he is down $500 for the week, she is pleading with him not to make matters worse by continuing to bet. She claims that the “historic winning streak” of 2002 has warped his perspective.

“God, he’s always talking about how in 2002 he won, like 8 bets in a row,” said Altman. “Every time I confront him about it, he’s like ‘Don’t worry. I’m due for another big streak. I just need to get back on track.’ And the more he loses, the more he wants to bet. You’d think he would just cut his losses. After he lost the Bengals game on Sunday, he was like ‘I’ll recoup that with the Packers game.’ Then he lost that one, and he was like ‘Oh, that’s OK. I’m taking the Bucs tonight at Oakland.’ Then he lost that one and I thought he was done, but no. He’s convinced that he can make one big bet and turn everything around. I hope he does, because I’m not about to give that bookie another goddamn hand job.”

Though Watson has lost thousands of dollars to football betting in the past decade, the thought of retiring from gambling has never once crossed his mind.

“Stopping is not even an option for him,” said Altman. “No matter how bad it gets he just sees it as a challenge to bet more. At the end of last season, he had a three week stretch where he lost $3,000. He doesn’t even have that kind of money. He had to max out his credit card and then get a loan from his parents. It was so bad that he actually got on his knees and started crying. I thought he had finally come to his senses, but I was wrong. He was just wailing ‘I’ve got to start making smarter bets! Oh, what was I thinking? I’m such a fool! Never, ever bet on the Cardinals!’”

When asked what he would do if he lost Monday night’s bet, Watson was noncommittal.

“Lose? I really don’t know. I have no way of paying the guy so I guess I’d…I really don’t know. It’s a non-issue though because I’m not going to lose. Seriously, I’ve been doing this a long time, and whenever I’m down and out and I need a really big win to get me out of trouble, I always get it. Except that time in ’03. And last year’s Superbowl. And the past two weeks of this season. But nothing’s going to stop me from betting tonight. I mean, what’s the worst that can happen? I lose everything—my car, my apartment, my girlfriend, my legs—but it’s worth it, because if I win I get 500 bucks.”