Dan Bilzerian Wins Cycling Prop Bet Against Bill Perkins

High stakes poker pro Dan Bilzerian has won the bet he had with fellow poker player and hedge fund manager Bill Perkins after successfully cycling from Las Vegas to Los Angeles within 48 hours.

Bilzerian started his journey on March 29 around 3.30 pm from the sign of Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas and was accompanied by a police escort. In the early hours of March 31, Perkins reported on Twitter that Bilzerian was close to the end, well within the time limit required to win the bet. Bilzerian had to complete the ride by 11.59 pm on March 31 to win.

Winning the cycling prop bet will net Bilzerian around $1 million, with both of them having put in $6,00,000 each towards it. The bet had been announced by Perkins who is well known for his outrageous prop bets in February which required Bilzerian to ride a bike from Las Vegas to Los Angeles within 48 hours by March 31.

Dan Bilzerian

According to the terms of the bet, if Bilzerian got arrested for any reason, the bet would be cancelled but if he got pulled over, the delay would be added to his time. There would be no motor or any such assistance provided to Bilzerian’s bikes.

Many fellow poker players including Brian Rast and Phil Laak took to Twitter to congratulate Bilzerian for having won the bet. Bilzerian took advice and help from professional cyclist Lance Armstrong to tackle the 300 mile ride which featured a few tough uphill climbs through the Mojave Desert. He agreed to donate $25,000 to a charity that focuses on children with cancer, which is also supported by Armstrong. Bilzerian earlier admitted to spending over $100,000 on equipment and a crew to prepare for the ride.

Controversy arose during the ride when Bilzerian used the van that was filming him to draft. There were questions raised on whether it should be allowed but it was agreed later that drafting was allowable.

To make matters more interesting, Bilzerian had added yet another prop bet to the ride. He had entered into a bet with wealthy celebrity and high roller Rick Salomon that in case he didn’t make it through the ride he would give up his private G4 jet and if he did finish, he would win $250,000 from Salomon.

Just bet Rick my G4 vs his 250k. If I die or get brain dead he wins, if I bike 300miles, I win, almost a mil on line pic.twitter.com/HQdNk0uXVF

— Dan Bilzerian (@DanBilzerian) 23 March 2016

The ride was risky for Bilzerian as he has suffered from several heart attacks in recent years.

Perkins has said that he was now discussing plans for follow-up prop bets with Bilzerian.