![]() The Dream Team prepared for the 1992 Olympics in Monaco, giving Jordan access to the legendary Monte Carlo casino. Jordan's time with Team USA amounted to a gambler's paradise. Anyone's money was good for Jordan.Īnd he was willing to take it anytime, anywhere. In his book on Jordan's comeback with the Washington Wizards, When Nothing Else Matters, Michael Leahy revealed that Jordan even played with teenaged rookie Kwame Brown, though assistant coach Johnny Bach advised against it. Jordan hardly cared who he targeted, either. Jordan was a relentless card shark on team charters, and while he usually played with the high rollers, he was willing to play for almost any stakes merely for the competition. His most frequent victims, as detailed by "The Last Dance," were his teammates. As Scottie Pippen explained on ESPN's "The Jump," Jordan would often bet on Jumbotron cartoon races with a Bulls security guard during games, but nearly always won because he got the winners from arena staffers in advance. He wasn't above rigging contests, either. He'd play cards with Bulls beat writers Sam Smith and Lacy Banks on the road, Smith revealed in the introduction to The Jordan Rules. Reaching the NBAīy the time Jordan arrived in the NBA, he had more than enough money to satisfy even his wildest gambling urges, and he did so with practically anyone that would indulge him. As he described early in "The Last Dance," Jordan didn't have income in college, and needed to ask his mother to send him money just to get by. It should be noted that in all cases, the amounts that Jordan bet were substantially smaller than the gargantuan totals he would risk in the NBA. He gambled with teammates and even college coaches during drills, according to David Halberstam's book, Playing For Keeps: Michael Jordan & the World He Made. That money was won at the pool table, and the student, sensing Jordan's future fame, asked for a check rather than cash. In 2019, a $5 check written in 1982 by Jordan to a fellow North Carolina student went up for auction. Similar evidence exists that substantiates his gambling in college. In a letter written to his high school prom date, according to Roland Lazenby's book, Michael Jordan: The Life, he said that he was happy that she'd paid off a bet that he'd won against her. The exact origins of Jordan's gambling habits are unknown, but they date back at least to his high school days. So let's dive into Jordan's history as a bettor, starting before he even reached the NBA. As long as he has been in the public eye, he has been known to bet on everything from golf and cards to minor competitions with teammates ( and even security guards).Įpisode 6 of "The Last Dance" shined a light on Jordan's gambling habits, though it didn't tell the entire story. As true as that statement was, it doesn't take away from Jordan's well-known history as a gambler. "I have a competition problem," Jordan claimed in an interview with Ahmad Rashad. Michael Jordan insisted that he didn't have a gambling problem in 1993.
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