bet the ranch

bet the ranch

To risk everything on a venture that one thinks will be successful. Primarily heard in US. I wouldn't bet the ranch on that wacky invention. He's broke now because he bet the ranch on a failed business venture.
See also: bet, ranch
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

bet the ranch

mainly AMERICAN
If you bet the ranch, you take a big risk in doing something, sometimes spending all your money to do it. I wasn't going to bet the ranch on the stocks. It was a brave policy pushed through despite warnings that it would be a disaster. He bet the ranch and he won.
See also: bet, ranch
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed.

bet the ˈfarm/ˈranch

(American English) risk everything that you have on something: It might succeed but don’t bet the farm on it. It’s a bet-the-farm situation.
See also: bet, farm, ranch
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • ranch
  • bet the farm
  • bet the farm/ranch
  • farm
  • sell the farm
  • quid
  • be not the full quid
  • tabbacky
  • wacky-tabbacky
  • wacky-tobacky
References in periodicals archive
As long as option-incentivised chief executives know that they will enjoy a handsome payoff if they are forced off the board, they have a powerful incentive to bet the ranch. The existence of an active market in corporate control in the English-speaking countries also means that it is easier to bet the ranch via a corporate acquisition spree than ever before.
According to Bill Bennett, odds are that Sawyer would have had a follow-up question, but don't bet the ranch. Whether it's rolling around on the floor in Little Havana with Elian Gonzalez or squinting down Florida state representative Randy Ball about gay adoption, Sawyer is deeply embedded in Aaron Brown-strength smarm.
The time to bet the ranch is when one or more of the majors makes a significant investment in the emerging technology du jour, not today's toe-in-the-water positioning.
You don't have to bet the ranch or give one away to run a successful sweepstakes.
The very small companies bet the ranch on one idea; we're dealing maybe with 800 ideas.
This makes the company's prepayment exposure much less than some of the other aggressive subprime issuers that bet the ranch on their gain on sale assumptions only to be burned by prepayments.
retailing analyst Gary Given, who has followed Smith's progress, calls the company's major move into California a "bet the ranch" proposition.
I wouldn't want to "bet the ranch" on such statistical measures.
Store owners can't bet the ranch on the advice of eight people, he says.
It would be foolish to bet the ranch on what the polls say, of course, but while the Yes campaign have narrowed the gap, they still, very roughly speaking, appear to be on the wrong side of a 60–40 split.
Rebuking them after the fact may help, but I wouldn't bet the ranch on it.
She bet the ranch and lost everything, and then some.
Nevertheless it is hard to escape the conclusion that the company "bet the ranch" on this project.
On the other hand, you probably don't want to bet the ranch on anyone's imaginings of a possible future.
If you bet the ranch on rental, it's a real tough year.