Michael Jordan gave an interview back in 1993 on his gambling habit. MJ insisted that he doesn’t gamble and labeled it as a “competition problem”. Almost three decades since the interview, there are several accounts of him betting on things with friends and teammates. The docu-series ‘The Last Dance’ highlighted Jordan’s gambling habit, but it didn’t cover everything. He once won a game of cards against his own Bulls teammate back in the late 80s and got serious about asking for the payment.

Michael Jordan has bet on many things, from golf to a game of cards.

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During the ’89 and ’90 seasons with the Chicago Bulls, Jordan had a gambling partner in Jack Haley, according to Jack M. Silverstein. Jack Haley was drafted by the Bulls in 1987 and played alongside Jordan during the 1988-89 season. That is when he once gambled with Jordan and lost $17,000 in a game of cards.

Michael Jordan once demanded $17,000 from Jack Haley for losing a game of cards

Former Bulls coach Johnny Bach revealed the incident of Haley losing $17,000 to Jordan in a card game. In Sam Smith’s 2014 book ‘There Is No Next‘, Bach shared the incident of Jordan asking for payment. Baley, however, didn’t have the money to pay him.

Johnny Bach said: “Michael said, ‘Well, then you get it. You call Daddy Warbucks now.’ Daddy owns a restaurant. Daddy had to meet him next morning and give him cash. Michael said, ‘Don’t f***ing play with me, Jack, if you can’t pay off. I don’t want your money, but you lost and Daddy has to come with that money in cash.’ You better take Michael seriously.” 

Bach was the assistant coach of the Chicago Bulls from 1986 to 1994, during which he helped them win their first three-peat. Haley, however, left the Bulls in 1989 and joined the Brooklyn Nets. He came back in 1995 to win his first championship with the Bulls in 1996.

Jordan lost $1 million to a businessman on golf bets

A businessman by the name of Richard Esquinas, based in San Diego, had won golf bets worth $1 million from Jordan. He wrote the book ‘Michael & Me: Our Gambling Addiction … My Cry For Help!’.

Richard claimed that in the end, they agreed to $3oo,ooo to be paid in installments for over three years. However, he allegedly only received $200,000 from Jordan, as MJ stopped paying after the publishing of Richards’ book.

“I was in the process of finishing off all the payments, but when he pulled this stunt — we never had a written agreement, I was more or less going off my honor — I felt he dishonored me, so I don’t owe him any more honor. What’s the balance? Zero, in my book,” Jordan said in an interview from 1993.

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