system
A chat on subreddit /r/wallstreetbets
human
For the less mathematically inclined, he stood to win 11200 from his bet of 1400000 - this is a 0.8% increase. The national average yield for a savings account, borderline no risk, is 0.22% APY. The S&amp;P 500 averages 11.8% increase per year (though some sources say anywhere from 10% to 10.7% to 12.3%, so we can be conservative and say at minimum 10%), being a relatively safe index fund to invest in.

Were he to invest this in an index fund, it is almost certain that if he simply waited a month, he would have an opportunity to sit on his money, wait for it to reach at least a 2% increase, withdraw it, square away short-term gains tax, and still have money left over compared to the bet. If he were to at least gamble in a casino and win in the most simplistic games of chance, say having a 47.4% chance of winning a roulette wheel's 18/38 gamble to double up, he would have a much, much better expected value.

All this to say he could've literally put it all on black and had at least a better outcome for what he was risking.

Edit: Apparently some of you really are braindead. The fact of the matter is that while 0.8% increase in a short amount of time like two hours is great, it is *worthless* when you are risking losing *every last cent* if things go within an expectable wrong outcome. Losing a sports bet happens.

The S&amp;P500, I guarantee you, is probably not going to go to 0$ within our lifetime - if it does, it's probably because the world is fucking ending. The high risk of this bet coupled with the shitty return is what makes it stupid - as evidenced by the fact that, while some of you are saying *it's a good idea*, the guy who made this bet *lost* his 1.4 million dollars trying to get 11.2k.

0.8% return in a day would be great, but at such high risk, it is an incredibly stupid decision because the risk here is that if you get it wrong once, you have no recourse, you have no money. If the S&amp;P500 has a bad day, you can wait and it will almost certainly recover over time and then begin to increase. If it has a good day, you are likely even going to get a little better than 0.8%. So why bother taking some incredibly high risk option for some shitty payout?
gpt
Can't believe this dumb logic is upvoted. 

This was 0.8% per day (I'd even say 4 hours), but I'll be generous, which annualized will be nearly 280% per annum