When he's not busy investing in meme stocks like GameStop and AMC Entertainment Holdings, Barstool Sportsbook founder Dave Portnoy is making sports bets on championships that have won millions of dollars in 2024.
The Barstool Sportsbook founder’s NHL and NBA championship picks are still alive in the finals, positioning him to win millions more from his bets.
What Happened: The NHL Playoffs saw four Canadian teams qualify out of the 16 teams in the postseason, all hoping to end a 30+ year drought of the country not winning a Stanley Cup.
The last Stanley Cup championship won by a Canadian NHL team came in the 1992-1993 season, when the Montreal Canadiens won their NHL leading 24th Stanley Cup.
In the 2024 Stanley Cup Finals, the Edmonton Oilers have a chance to break Canada's losing streak and also win Portnoy some money.
The Oilers, who won their last Stanley Cup in 1990, were Portony’s pick to lift the NHL championship trophy.
Portnoy, a known Boston Bruins fan, bet $150,000 on the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup on April 19 ahead of the NHL Playoffs. The bet was placed with DraftKings Inc DKNG at odds of +700 with a total payout of $1.2 million and a profit of over $1 million. Portnoy previously said if the Bruins reached the finals against the Oilers, he would hedge and bet on his favorite NHL team as well.
Along with his Stanley Cup bet, Portnoy’s NBA Championship bet is also still alive. Portnoy bet $100,000 with DraftKings on a parlay of Scottie Scheffler winning the RBC Heritage at +550 and the Boston Celtics winning the NBA Championship at +145. The parlay placed on April 20 has total odds of +1,492 and pays out $1,592,500 if both legs hit. Scheffler already won the RBC Heritage golf tournament.
Portnoy, a Celtics fan, would profit nearly $1.5 million on the parlay if the Celtics win the NBA championship.
The Barstool Sports founder has had a string of big bet wins in 2024 with multiple championship picks paying out. The list includes:
- $1.3 million won on Scottie Scheffler winning the Masters Tournament
- $2.1 million won on NCAA Men's Basketball Champion Connecticut
- $500,000 won on Kansas City Chiefs winning Super Bowl
- $500,000 won on Texas, Washington NCAA Football bowl game
- $1 million won on Michigan winning NCAA Football bowl game
In total, Portnoy has won around $5.4 million from several major championship bets and stands to add to his total thanks to the NHL and NBA Playoffs.
"Guys I hate to be that guy but I have the Celtics for $1.1 million and the Oilers for another million. If both those teams win I will be up 7.5 million in 2024 and have won every big event this year. This run should be taught in history books," Portnoy recently tweeted.
What's Next: The Stanley Cup Finals kick off on Saturday, June 8 with the Oilers taking on the Florida Panthers. The Panthers are the betting favorites to win the series at -135 with the Oilers listed at +115 to win the series.
The best-of-seven series will see the Panthers with a home advantage as the home team in Games 1 and 2 and in Games 5 and 7 if necessary. The series will air on ABC and stream on ESPN+, which are units of The Walt Disney Company DIS.
The NBA Finals kicks off on Thursday, June 6 with the Celtics the favorite against the Dallas Mavericks. The Celtics are listed with odds of -210 to win the series with the Mavericks the underdog at +175. The Celtics have the home advantage with Games 1 and 2 at home and Games 5 and 7 if necessary.
The Celtics have a 6-2 record at home in the NBA Playoffs and had a league-best 37-4 record at home during the regular season.
The NBA Finals will air exclusively on ABC.
Photo by Zach Catanzareti Photo via Wikimedia.
© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
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