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There are companies that specialize in insuring risks like that. It is a whole sub industry of insuring unlikely to win contests. https://www.holeinoneinsuranc

There are companies that specialize in insuring risks like that. It is a whole sub industry of insuring unlikely to win contests. https://www.holeinoneinsurance.com/how-much-does-it-cost.html https://www.holeinoneinsurance.com/how-much-does-it-cost.htm...

mathattack 8y ago
If I recall, there was a basketball one where the insurance company didn’t want to pay because the shooter had paid college ball. The team wound up paying to avoid the PR disaster.
- cobbzilla 8y ago
  YES! This was at a Chicago Bulls game in the late 90's iirc. I watched the game on TV. The shot was from the free-throw line to the basket on the opposite end of the court. The guy shot one handed, wheeling his arm around wide to throw the ball with a great arc. It took a few seconds to travel through the air, and from the moment he released the ball the crowd was silent - we could all see it was looking on-target. It went through the hoop! It barely nicked the rim on its way down, so after it went through it ricocheted hard to one side, in my memory it was a near 90-degree turn. The crowd went wild. Everyone was thrilled to finally see someone win that prize. I don't remember how much it was, but I do remember it was a very large cash prize. And then, like you said, the next day the prize company said they wouldn't pay because there was some stipulation that participants could not have played any pro or college basketball. Public sentiment turned harshly on the team - you see, to take away his prize would be to invalidate the joyful moment we all shared watching that shot. If he didn't win, what the heck did we just see? I don't know if the insurance company changed their minds or if the team just ate the cost of the prize, but it didn't take long for the Bulls to realize what was the right thing to do, and do it. Thanks for bringing back these fun memories.
  - mathattack 8y ago
    Thank You! I was pretty sure it was the Bulls but I couldn’t find it after 3 or 4 Google searches, and chalked it up to too much drinking in college.
    - dec0dedab0de 8y ago
      I found a story about it, if anyone is curious https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/04/18/Chicago-Bulls-Million-Dollar-Shot-man-will-get-his-money/7968735105600/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/04/18/Chicago-Bulls-Millio...
      - cobbzilla 8y ago
        It is interesting. It took me a while to find an article that described his "near disqualification" [1]. Am I imagining things, or is it like all the top results, even for an event so long ago, are tilted towards "of course he'll get the money, who said otherwise?" But clearly it was said. Maybe it was a risky play by the prize company to rope in the team & some partners into chipping in to pay for the loss, which might have crippled them [2]. And then a lot of spin after the fact by the team to save face. They were forced to legitimize a shady move by a business partner, who threatened their reputation. Some rough lines to FB/CA? "It takes time to make up a hit like this . . . but I know this will generate enough business to cover the loss." [1] https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4165888.html https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4165888.html [2] http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-04-16/news/9305180413_1_contests-frisbee-buick-lesabre http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-04-16/news/930518041...
        kolpa 8y ago
        For $1m, the Bulls could avoid to pay it, and should, since they violated the terms of their insurance contract, and they are a huge profitable professional business, not a rube.
      - Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
        > Calhoun said he would not be quitting his job as a sales associate at the Reliable Office Superstore in Bloomington Anyone that thought he could quit his job needs some math lessons and financial education. $1M isn't enough to retire if you're under 30, especially when taxes come out.
  - maccam94 8y ago
    Here's a video of the shot: https://youtu.be/Q_k1qg6_9f4?t=1m10s https://youtu.be/Q_k1qg6_9f4?t=1m10s
braythwayt 8y ago
Way back in the day, I had a reinsurance company as a client. For those unfamiliar, reinsurance companies insure insurance companies. For example, they might insure a standard insurance company for automobile accidents, with a $1,000,000 deductible. So the retail insurance company handles payouts up to a million dollars, but when there's a really wild claim, the reinsurance company pays the insurance company for anything over a million. They end up specializing in rare events that involve large payouts, so they also did things like the hole-in-one insurance you mention above, very common with charity gold tournaments. They had many stories to tell, including the fellow who played a lot of golf and collected three hole-in-one payouts, and another story about a truck that went off a mountain road, slid down and blocked train tracks, causing a train derailment, with a town below the train that needed to be evacuated.
- Zetaphor 8y ago
  Who insures the reinsurance company?
  - ohyes 8y ago
    It’s reinsurance companies all the way down.
    - TimTheTinker 8y ago
      Their names eventually converge toward variants of "Turtle Insurance".
      - stickfigure 8y ago
        ...and "Department Of The Treasury"
        kolpa 8y ago
        ... the US taxpayer
astura 8y ago
Prize indemnity insurance! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_indemnity_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_indemnity_insurance
nickjj 8y ago
A few years ago I was in charge of monitoring a hole in one contest for a golf tournament. Anyone who got a hole in one was to receive $10,000. All I had to do was hang out in the shade and not get killed from golf balls while watching everyone's attempts. I asked the tournament official where that 10k comes from, and he said from an insurance agency. They paid $200 insurance. No one ended up getting a hole in one that day.
jcl 8y ago
Apparently some golf players even carry hole-in-one insurance against themselves, to cover the unexpected cost of the traditional celebratory round of drinks for everyone in the club afterwards. https://priceonomics.com/why-golfers-buy-hole-in-one-insurance/ https://priceonomics.com/why-golfers-buy-hole-in-one-insuran...

mathattack 8y ago

If I recall, there was a basketball one where the insurance company didn’t want to pay because the shooter had paid college ball. The team wound up paying to avoid the PR disaster.

cobbzilla 8y ago
YES! This was at a Chicago Bulls game in the late 90's iirc. I watched the game on TV. The shot was from the free-throw line to the basket on the opposite end of the court. The guy shot one handed, wheeling his arm around wide to throw the ball with a great arc. It took a few seconds to travel through the air, and from the moment he released the ball the crowd was silent - we could all see it was looking on-target. It went through the hoop! It barely nicked the rim on its way down, so after it went through it ricocheted hard to one side, in my memory it was a near 90-degree turn. The crowd went wild. Everyone was thrilled to finally see someone win that prize. I don't remember how much it was, but I do remember it was a very large cash prize. And then, like you said, the next day the prize company said they wouldn't pay because there was some stipulation that participants could not have played any pro or college basketball. Public sentiment turned harshly on the team - you see, to take away his prize would be to invalidate the joyful moment we all shared watching that shot. If he didn't win, what the heck did we just see? I don't know if the insurance company changed their minds or if the team just ate the cost of the prize, but it didn't take long for the Bulls to realize what was the right thing to do, and do it. Thanks for bringing back these fun memories.
- mathattack 8y ago
  Thank You! I was pretty sure it was the Bulls but I couldn’t find it after 3 or 4 Google searches, and chalked it up to too much drinking in college.
  - dec0dedab0de 8y ago
    I found a story about it, if anyone is curious https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/04/18/Chicago-Bulls-Million-Dollar-Shot-man-will-get-his-money/7968735105600/ https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/04/18/Chicago-Bulls-Millio...
    - cobbzilla 8y ago
      It is interesting. It took me a while to find an article that described his "near disqualification" [1]. Am I imagining things, or is it like all the top results, even for an event so long ago, are tilted towards "of course he'll get the money, who said otherwise?" But clearly it was said. Maybe it was a risky play by the prize company to rope in the team & some partners into chipping in to pay for the loss, which might have crippled them [2]. And then a lot of spin after the fact by the team to save face. They were forced to legitimize a shady move by a business partner, who threatened their reputation. Some rough lines to FB/CA? "It takes time to make up a hit like this . . . but I know this will generate enough business to cover the loss." [1] https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4165888.html https://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4165888.html [2] http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-04-16/news/9305180413_1_contests-frisbee-buick-lesabre http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-04-16/news/930518041...
      - kolpa 8y ago
        For $1m, the Bulls could avoid to pay it, and should, since they violated the terms of their insurance contract, and they are a huge profitable professional business, not a rube.
    - Sohcahtoa82 8y ago
      > Calhoun said he would not be quitting his job as a sales associate at the Reliable Office Superstore in Bloomington Anyone that thought he could quit his job needs some math lessons and financial education. $1M isn't enough to retire if you're under 30, especially when taxes come out.
- maccam94 8y ago
  Here's a video of the shot: https://youtu.be/Q_k1qg6_9f4?t=1m10s https://youtu.be/Q_k1qg6_9f4?t=1m10s

braythwayt 8y ago

Way back in the day, I had a reinsurance company as a client. For those unfamiliar, reinsurance companies insure insurance companies. For example, they might insure a standard insurance company for automobile accidents, with a $1,000,000 deductible. So the retail insurance company handles payouts up to a million dollars, but when there's a really wild claim, the reinsurance company pays the insurance company for anything over a million. They end up specializing in rare events that involve large payouts, so they also did things like the hole-in-one insurance you mention above, very common with charity gold tournaments. They had many stories to tell, including the fellow who played a lot of golf and collected three hole-in-one payouts, and another story about a truck that went off a mountain road, slid down and blocked train tracks, causing a train derailment, with a town below the train that needed to be evacuated.

Zetaphor 8y ago
Who insures the reinsurance company?
- ohyes 8y ago
  It’s reinsurance companies all the way down.
  - TimTheTinker 8y ago
    Their names eventually converge toward variants of "Turtle Insurance".
    - stickfigure 8y ago
      ...and "Department Of The Treasury"
      - kolpa 8y ago
        ... the US taxpayer

astura 8y ago

Prize indemnity insurance! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_indemnity_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_indemnity_insurance

nickjj 8y ago

A few years ago I was in charge of monitoring a hole in one contest for a golf tournament. Anyone who got a hole in one was to receive $10,000. All I had to do was hang out in the shade and not get killed from golf balls while watching everyone's attempts. I asked the tournament official where that 10k comes from, and he said from an insurance agency. They paid $200 insurance. No one ended up getting a hole in one that day.

jcl 8y ago

Apparently some golf players even carry hole-in-one insurance against themselves, to cover the unexpected cost of the traditional celebratory round of drinks for everyone in the club afterwards. https://priceonomics.com/why-golfers-buy-hole-in-one-insurance/ https://priceonomics.com/why-golfers-buy-hole-in-one-insuran...