Michael Jordan Brings Up $5 Million Gambling Loss To Troll NASCAR Driver Salaries

Michael Jordan is a lifelong fan of NASCAR and jumped at the chance of co-owing a team in the prestigious stock car racing series.

Michael Jordan Brings Up $5 Million Gambling Loss To Troll NASCAR Driver Salaries

Chicago Bulls great Michael Jordan (Image via FirstSportz)

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Throughout his NBA career, Michael Jordan earned all of $94 million. During this time, he picked up the habit of gambling and was alleged to have bet millions.

If one would wonder how an athlete earning only approximately $3 million in salary could afford to gamble hundreds of thousands of dollars whenever he had the opportunity.

The reason was not a secret, as his deal with Nike and the plethora of other sponsors saw His Airness earn a lot more money than any other athlete on the planet. He was already a billionaire before he sold his stake in the Charlotte Hornets, which ensured his net worth zoomed beyond $3.5 billion. Then, he decided to follow his other passion, motorsports.

Michael Jordan laughed off the cost of signing a driver by telling his financial advisor, ‘I have lost that in a casino. Let’s do it.’

Joe Pompliano wrote in his substack

The journalist gathered all the information he could during Michael Jordan‘s lawsuit against NASCAR. It seems the 6-time NBA champion had invested $40 million into the 23XI Racing team over the last 5 years.

It seems this is all chump change for the 62-year-old, who trolled NASCAR driver salaries by revealing he had lost that much in casinos. For someone who has millions at casino tables, even hiring a top-tier driver should not be a problem.

Michael Jordan once lost $5 million playing craps

There are numerous stories of Michael Jordan going big while trying to win at gambling. Be it at casinos or playing cards with other NBA players during the 1993 Dream Team run.

Or when he took along with his gambling partner and then-best friend Charles Barkley, the superstar used gambling as a way to continue harnessing his competitiveness off the court. In the book Michael Jordan: The Life, written by Roland Lazenby, the author revealed that the Chicago Bulls great once took former NFL star Adam Jones to hit the crap tables back in 2007.

The book goes on to reveal that Jordan lost $5 million, leaving Jones shocked. All while setting strict rules about rolling the dice. The guard has since taken a milder approach to how he gambles.

But still, there are tales of how he kept on betting thousands of dollars playing ping pong with rapper Drake. Or how he takes his gambling habits to his other passion, golf, leading him to trash-talk friendly opponents as he looks to gain the upper hand.

The 5-time league MVP once clarified that he did not have a gambling habit. Rather, it was his way of channeling his competitiveness. He believed people with gambling habits often end up losing everything, which he hasn’t.

$3.8 billion worth Michael Jordan wins NASCAR lawsuit

Through his trials and tribulations in gambling, it is evident that Michael Jordan will not go overboard unless he is sure of something. That has followed him into his other ventures, as well as his NASCAR team.

23XI Racing co-owners Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan
23XI Racing co-owners Denny Hamlin and Michael Jordan (Image via NRF Productions/X)

For someone worth $3.8 billion, he might not be the one to bother too much about losing more money to run his 23XI Racing team. However, it seems he was irked by the fact that the league’s owners, the France family, were intentionally not sharing revenue.

Once he figured out that most of the teams in the championship were losing money every year, he, his team co-owner, Denny Hamlin, along with Front Row Motorsports owner Bob Jenkins, sued NASCAR.

It seems the hyper-competitive superstar is not scared of retribution from the France family and has gone full steam ahead with this lawsuit. Now, the 6′ 6″ star can add another win to his name, as he and his partners have settled with the league’s owners.

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