Whether Derek Stevens cashes a $1 million ticket on the NCAA Tournament is something of a side issue.

Regardless of how much, or even if, the owner of the D Las Vegas and Golden Gate collects because of his beloved Michigan Wolverines, he’s already a winner.

Stevens has gained priceless promotional value with his NCAA Tournament gambit. Before the tournament, the aggressively loyal Michigan grad bet $25,000 on the Wolverines to win the championship at 40-1 odds. He placed the wager at rival downtown resort Golden Nugget, reportedly the largest bet ever taken at the hotel’s sports book.

Stevens effectively hedged the bet in Saturday’s Final Four semifinal matchup between Loyola-Chicago and Michigan, making two bets totaling about $52,000 on Loyola. If the Ramblers had won, Stevens would have won, too.

He’s flamboyant, not stupid.

Stevens is going to hedge again in the championship between Michigan and Villanova. “I’m still working on it, but I won’t announce until just before tip-off tomorrow,” he said Sunday. The Wolverines opened as a 6.5-point underdog, and the line quickly moved to 7.

That’s the showman, the P.T. Barnum, in Stevens. The level of national media attention and business he has sparked at his hotel is immeasurable.

On Saturday, the D hosted a watch party at Longbar that was livestreamed on the VSiN gaming network. Stevens was there with his wife, Nicole, to his left. To his right sat a Pope Francis bobblehead — a “bobblepope,” if you will — inside a glass box, blessing Stevens’ $25,000 ticket.

This was a box-and-one defense against Loyola’s Sister Jean, the 98-year-old nun who was an inspiration for the 11th-seeded Ramblers through their series of tournament upsets. Derek and Nicole shared their epiphany of how to combat Sister Jean’s sway over the tournament.

“Nicole and I realized that for us to win this we had to go to a higher power,” said Stevens, his face sweaty just after the Wolverines’ 69-57 victory. “That’s why we have the pope. You see him blessing the ticket, right?”

Yes. And the encased bobblepope will be back at Longbar for Monday night’s championship. Stevens is not moving the party to a hotel ballroom or its second-floor showroom. He’s had luck at Longbar.

“This has been a roller coaster, for sure,” he said. “I’m not going to get too superstitious, but I’m going to be back at seat 1 at the Longbar. This is going to be something special.”

It already has been.