5 Outrageous Michael Jordan Gambling Tales

Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. Kobe tried to be the greatest and fell just short. Lebron is still trying to assert himself as the best to ever take the hardwood, but he too will ultimately come up short. Another all-time great that came close to “His Airness,” but he’s no Jordan.

The six-time NBA Champion and five-time League MVP was a divisive figure throughout his career. From the North Carolina Tar Heels to leading the Dream Team to Olympic Gold, Jordan had many friends and enemies alike.

Those that have followed Jordan’s career are aware of his love of gambling. Apparently, MJ will wager on just about anything.

Let’s take a closer look at five outrageous Michael Jordan gambling tales.

Competitive Fire

You aren’t going to find many people to even try to diminish Jordan’s greatness. You’ll find even fewer individuals to try to downplay his fiercely competitive nature.

Jordan was so dead set on winning that he once lost his cool in practice and took a swing at a teammate. Michael Jordan was undoubtedly a tough guy to get along with if things weren’t going the Bulls’ way. He was not a good guy to be on the wrong side of the ball against.

He was the culprit behind such outbursts. Michael Jordan hates to lose. It doesn’t matter if he’s playing a game of HORSE, shooting a round of golf, or playing game 6 of the NBA Finals, Jordan does not accept losing.

Additionally, this competitive nature and steel-clad will to win has pushed him to greatness. Unfortunately, being an overachiever (even by overachiever standards) isn’t always positive. Jordan has struggled with gambling and has reportedly lost a fortune in Las Vegas.

Conspiracy Talk

When discussing Jordan’s gambling habits, it’s hard to ignore his first retirement from basketball. In 1993, conspiracy theories related to Jordan’s gambling were daily news.

Following the death of Jordan’s father, James Jordan, in July 1993, the media began making a murky connection between James Jordan’s murder and Michael’s gambling.

The NBA had previously conducted two of their own investigations into Jordan’s gambling in 1992. During a criminal investigation, checks were found by law enforcement. One of the checks was taken from a crime scene of a murdered bail bondsman. There had been no public discipline resulting from the investigation.

NBA commissioner David Stern made a statement regarding Jordan’s gambling to the press. In his statement, he was emphatic that Jordan had never bet on any NBA games and that MJ was not suffering from a gambling addiction.

However, when Jordan retired later that year, it was widely speculated that the retirement was somehow related to Jordan’s gambling habits. Jordan even made a tongue-in-cheek remark about a possible comeback to the league. This only served to feed conspiracy rumors.

Stern remained steadfast that the conspiracy theories were utterly absurd. Jordan didn’t feel that the commissioner had gone far enough to dispel the talk. Stern contended that any further defense would only serve to fuel the fire.

Following in Pete Rose’s Footsteps?

Jordan chose to spend his retirement as a professional baseball player. The legend joined the Chicago White Sox as a minor league prospect.

In 102 games with the Birmingham Barons, MJ hit a rather pathetic .202 and managed 3 home runs. He also struck out a staggering 114 of his plate appearances. Led by another legend Terry Francona, Jordan never really seemed to click with baseball the way he did on the b-ball court.

Jordan’s foray into baseball is mostly considered a distraction to the troubles he was enduring off the court. I do not want to diminish the effort MJ made in taking on professional baseball. If nothing else, he did much good for the young players on the team.

Unlike Pete Rose, another noted gambler, MJ was never under any investigation for betting on games that he was involved in.

Despite his one season in the game as a minor league outfielder with few tools, Jordan is arguably closer to the Fall of Fame than Rose.

After all, Charlie Hustle is on baseball’s permanently ineligible list.

1 – A $300k Putt

Michael’s former golfing pal, Richard Esquinas, detailed much of the duo’s gambling on the links in his bestselling book Michael and Me. Esquinas explicitly mentions a 10-day golf excursion in which Jordan allegedly owed him over $1.2 million.

According to his account, the debt got down to under $1 million. Still, MJ refused that amount, and Esquinas was forced to settle with only $300k. It is not bad for 10 days of golf with Michael Jordan, but it’s not a million.

Michael’s longtime rival and buddy Charles Barkley is known as a larger-than-life character on and off the court. He’s also been featured in many celebrity golf tournaments and his own show with teaching-pro Hank Haney for his “unusual” swing.

Barkley once stood over a putt and had the greatest of all-time bet him $300k on a single putt. That’s a lot of money on one putt even by PGA Tour standards.

Barkley failed to mention whether he sank the putt. So, one can only assume the advantage went to Jordan.

2 – Rock, Paper, Scissors

You are no doubt familiar with the kid’s game rock, paper, scissors. It was used to solve several childhood problems, from who gets the purple popsicle to which game to play on a summer day.

Jordan, as is his nature, even took the child’s game to extreme measures. MJ has apparently wagered up to $100k on games of rock, paper, scissors in head-to-head competition with other buddies.

Even with over a billion dollars in the bank, that amount of money on a single round of a child’s game is just bonkers. Who knows, maybe rock, paper, scissors is the next hot game to hit the floor of the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.

3 – Poker Party in Barcelona

MJ and the Dream Team had a cakewalk during the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The NBA’s All-World team regularly outscored opponents by more than 40 points.

Obviously, this left Jordan and crew with plenty of downtimes to kick back and relax. The group spent most of their time partying, and you guessed it—gambling.

In fact, rumors claim that Jordan slept for under one hour after staying up all night playing poker with the Barkley, Magic Johnson, and his Bulls teammate and “sidekick” Scottie Pippen.

After his short nap, the team crushed Croatia in the gold medal match by a score of 117-85.

4 – Craps Table Tango

Jordan was once partying in Las Vegas with other high-profile athletes, among them was Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Pacman Jones.

Jones told the media that Michael was so obsessed with the craps game that he ended up losing close to $5 million. Pacman also stated that he was up $1 million before the GOAT decided to take over the situation and lose it all.

Unfortunately, Jones’ night didn’t improve after losing a million and heading to a club to take his mind off of things. Pacman was involved in a reasonably severe brawl and received a suspension from the NFL. That’s a tough night for anyone.

5 – Prop Bet at the Luggage Carousel

Jordan’s gambling habit had him making all varieties of wild prop bets. Sometimes, the bets were intriguing, and others were flat-out absurd.

One such absurd wager was as the USA team was returning from their Olympic triumph in Barcelona. As the players were waiting for their luggage to come off the plane in Portland, Jordan asserted that his bags would be the first to come off the plane.

In true Jordan fashion, his luggage was the first to come off the plane, netting him possibly the easiest $900 of his career. MJ made it all look easy, though.

Jordan later confessed to having bribed the airport staff to guarantee he’d win the bet. Classic Jordan.

Conclusion

The simple fact of the matter is that you don’t mess with Jordan, or he’s going to come for you with a vengeance. The man has a competitive fire that is unrivaled, and he will stop at nothing to beat you.

If $100k on rock, paper, scissors doesn’t tell you to steer clear of MJ’s bets, I don’t know what will. Yes, Jordan’s gambling likely led to some of his troubles in the 1993 season. Still, I’m sure MJ wouldn’t have changed a thing.