Phil Mickelson’s Excessive Gambling Losses Exposed

The first excerpts from Billy Walters’s upcoming book on Phil Mickelson have surfaced, and the numbers are staggering.

The book is titled ‘Gambler’ and takes a deep dive into Mickelson’s gambling history and the extent to which it was consuming his livelihood. In the past, some estimated he had accumulated $40 million in gambling debts, swiftly paid off by his move to LIV Golf.

According to Billy Walters, Phil Mickelson made:

• 3,154 bets in 2011 alone (9 per day);

• 43 bets on June 22, 2011 resulting in $143,500 in losses; and

• Wagered more than $1 billion in total

We know Phil likes to gamble, but some of these numbers are crazy. pic.twitter.com/eiKVWVLUOk

— John Nucci (@JNucci23) August 10, 2023

Walters’ book suggests the figure is more like $100 million and that Phil has wagered up to $1 BILLION in the last decade. The numbers below have been taken directly from Walters’ book: Inside Phil Mickelson’s Gambling Escapades:

• He bet $110,000 to win $100,000, a total of 1,115 times.
• On 858 occasions, he bet $220,000 to win $200,000. (The sum of those 1,973 gross wagers came to more than $311 million.)
• In 2011 alone, he made 3,154 bets—an average of nearly nine per day.
• On one day in 2011 (June 22), he made forty-three bets on major-league baseball games, resulting in $143,500 in losses.
• He made a staggering 7,065 wagers on football, basketball, and baseball.
• Shockingly, Mickelson called Walters from Medinah before the Ryder Cup in 2012; and asked him to place a $400,000 wager on the US to win. He was playing on the Sunday and lost to Justin Rose in singles.

Walters says:

“Phil said he had two offshore accounts that would take big action from him. In all the decades I’ve worked with partners and beards, Phil had accounts as large as anyone I’d seen. You don’t get those types of accounts without betting millions of dollars.”

The book will expose Phil’s personal vice in a light that we haven’t seen before. The idea that he was willing to bet on an event he was playing in is eye-opening, as well as averaging nearly nine bets per day in 2011. Let’s not forget, around this time, Tiger Woods was arguably at his lowest point as his off-course affairs were exposed to the world. The two biggest names in golf of the last century have got vices like everyone else, and this book will be a shocking read.

Cover Image via Golf Magazine