Former Mob Boss Shares Crazy Michael Jordan Gambling Story

Michael Jordan’s passion for gambling featured a former mob boss being stunned at how petty the basketball legend can be. Former mob boss Michael Franzese has interacted with many major celebrities and referenced Jordan standing out among the most memorable for his actions.

Franzese shared a story on his YouTube channel about Jordan gambling with the head of NBA security:

“Michael Jordan is there. He looks at Horace Balmer and says, ‘Come on, let’s play table tennis.’ They start to play, and Michael says, ‘We’re going to play for five bucks.’ So, they’re playing table tennis. I’m watching. I’m taking all of this in. Michael wins, of course, right?

And he goes up to Horace, and he says, ‘Horace, give me my five bucks.’ And Horace says, ‘Well, Michael, I don’t have any money on me. I got a warm-up suit on.’ Michael says, ‘Where’s your money?’ He says, ‘It’s up in my room.’ Michael looks at him and says, ‘Go get it.’ I’m saying, ‘Is he serious? $5?’ Horace goes up, comes down, and he’s holding a $5 bill like this, and he hands it to Michael.”

Jordan demanded the loser go upstairs to bring him a five-dollar bill as his gambling victory, despite being one of the richest athletes in the world. Franzese’s story mirrors many other stories of Jordan being petty about gambling victories.

Gambling Was Michael Jordan’s Biggest Vice

Many stories have emerged about Jordan going out of his way to gamble and making it a huge part of his enjoyment in life. Jordan would find ways to gamble on any silly things that happened in his daily life.

The Last Dance documentary of his Chicago Bulls dynasty years showed Jordan gambling against various NBA employees in backstage games of trivial things, like flipping coins. No one is questioning Franzese’s story since it makes perfect sense to align with Jordan’s reputation.

However, the level of pettiness was shocking to make someone go upstairs to bring back five dollars to a millionaire. Franzese added that Jordan called the five dollars his “trophy” since he was obsessed with competition and it validated him winning a table tennis game.

Michael Jordan Was Obsessed With Winning

Gambling gave Jordan the same thrill of playing basketball since he received money from being better than others. One legendary story featured Jordan losing $500,000 gambling and deciding to stay up all night until he won back $600,000 to end the night with a profit.

Jordan likely has many losing stories as well, but a lot of the bolder stories come from others watching him win his bets. The NBA didn’t have a gambling sponsorship back in Jordan’s era, or it could have complicated his public image.

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