Scudamores Super Stakes

What is Scudamores Super Stakes?

A former Connecticut funeral director who stole clients’ prepayments to fund his excessive gambling habit will spend the next seven and a half years in state prison.

Philip Pietras, 52, admitted to stealing from more than 170 people, many of whom are senior citizens who sought to limit the emotional and financial burdens placed on their loved ones by prepaying for their funerals. But instead of placing those funds, meant for caskets and burial services, in escrow accounts, Pietras pocketed the money to gamble.

Pietras accepted a plea deal from the state, and prosecutors expect him to enter a guilty plea on Oct. 23 and be formally sentenced on Jan. 22, 2027.

How to play Scudamores Super Stakes

Reese A. Heckman, 34, of Decatur, and Travis R. Ziemer, 28, of Macon, face charges in a series of break-ins targeting gaming parlors, bars, and other businesses across Central Illinois, according to court documents reported by the Herald & Review.

The methods allegedly used by the duo mirror those employed by organized crews in a wave of burglaries targeting gaming establishments across the state, particularly in the Chicago suburbs.

Police allege Heckman and Ziemer typically gained entry through the roof, cut the power, and used sledgehammers and crowbars to smash or remove ATMs.

How to play Scudamores Super Stakes

The pure-play prediction market-operators, Polymarket and Kalshi, emerged from Week 1 as the clear winners. On one hand, Kalshi’s market share lead narrowed over its competitors, falling to 82% for the week ended 13 September, down from 86% a week earlier.

Still, Kalshi had a nine-fold lead over Polymarket, its next closest rival. Polymarket, meanwhile, led the group with 762,000 app downloads, edging Kalshi, DraftKings and FanDuel in the category. The downloads represented a 13,509% weekly increase and 25% of total category downloads, Polymarket wrote in a statement.

Across the market, operators delivered high double-digit gains compared with Labor Day weekend, which featured a full slate of college football games but no NFL contests. Two operators, DraftKings and Underdog each saw triple-digit growth, delivering weekly increases of 125% and 119%, respectively. Three others, Polymarket, Crypto.com and Novig, saw gains of at least 30%, led by Polymarket with a weekly increase of 46%.