rivers.jpg
Getty Images

Everyone who travels to Las Vegas dreams of hitting it big, but Ronnie Rivers doesn't have to dream about that anymore because the Rams rookie actually DID hit it big over the weekend. 

The running back was playing three-card poker when he came up with a royal flush (For you non-poker types out there, that's the highest hand you can get). Rivers was playing at a table that had a progressive jackpot and that jackpot was up to $514,837 when his royal flush hit. 

As you can imagine, Rivers was quite thrilled to win a half a million dollars and if you want to see how thrilled he was, just check out the video below. 

The jackpot win was so big that Caesar's Palace even mentioned Rivers on its official Twitter page. 

This was a huge win for Rivers and that's because it almost equaled his entire pay for the 2022 season. According to Over the Cap, Rivers had a base salary of $705,000 last season, which means he almost doubled his income with one hand of poker. 

Although there were a lot of NFL players in Vegas over the weekend for the Pro Bowl, that's not why Rivers was in town, and this might be the best part: The 24-year-old was in Vegas to celebrate his MOM'S birthday, according to Fox 5. I'm guessing that his mom is going to remember this birthday for the rest of time. Rivers told the outlet that he plans on buying a house with his winnings. 

Although Rivers didn't make the Pro Bowl, he'll be leaving town with more money than everyone who did play in the game. Each player on the winning side earned a check for $84,000, which pales in comparison to Rivers' winnings. 

The jackpot caps off a crazy year for Rivers. After going undrafted in April, he signed with the Cardinals in May, only to get released in mid-August. After leaving Arizona, Rivers signed with the Seahawks, but he was only on Seattle's roster for less than a week before getting cut there. At that point, Rivers signed with the Rams practice squad in September and that's where he spent two months before getting moved to the active roster in November. 

In the end, Rivers finished his first NFL season with nine carries for 21 yards and five catches for 29 yards.