Last name bettor, first name losing; Drake’s betting curse is nothing that Dave Portnoy wants to play with.
The rapper and Barstool Sports founder lost big on the Stanley Cup Final, with their combined $570,000 bets on the Oilers to win the Stanley Cup, worth more than $1.5 million in profit, coming up short.
On the verge of history after battling back from a 3-0 series deficit, the Oilers fell to the Panthers, 2-1, in Game 7 on Monday night.
Portnoy wagered $70,000 on the Oilers at +700 odds to win the Stanley Cup, while Drake had a $500,000 wager at the onset of the series.
Conn Smythe winner Connor McDavid and the Oilers made it a close one, though, getting as high as 13/1 on BetMGM to win the Final after their Game 3 loss.
And they almost avoided falling victim to the Drake Cruse.
The music star has been far from successful as a bettor, having seemingly lost every bet he places, although he’s won a handful.
Drake also recently had the Mavericks to win the NBA Finals as well at +175 odds.
He lost $2 million in 2022 and just recently lost $565,000 on Tyson Fury, who lost as a favorite to Oleksandr Usyk.
His year has been mostly a disaster, according to his public betting record, with three losses totaling $1.5 million.
For Portnoy, he’s had a successful year as a gambler, although to what degree we don’t know.
It’s reasonable to suspect both Drake and Portnoy make bets which are not publicized, which would influence their winnings or losses.
The Barstool founder claims to have profited roughly $7 million on a handful of winning wagers,
“This run should be taught in history books,” Portnoy said in a June 2 post.
The Barstool Sports founder and media mogul has put DraftKings Sportsbook in quite a hole in recent months, having started his year winning $1.5 million on Michigan on New Year’s Day and then going on quite the hot streak.
He followed that up with a $500,000 winning wager on the Chiefs to beat the 49ers in the Super Bowl.
The fun didn’t stop there, as Portnoy registered a $2.1 million win on UConn’s national championship, while also banking $1.35 million on Scottie Scheffler’s Masters victory.
Those wins accumulated roughly $5.4 million in winnings.
After the Celtics made good on another parlay worth $1.6 million, the Barstool founder is up to approximately $7 million in winnings on DraftKings alone.
Surely, some executives at DraftKings are side-eying this heater at least a little, considering Portnoy’s Barstool Sports is also raking in an eight-figure content agreement.
Portnoy, who recently announced defeated cancer, purchased Barstool Sports back from PENN Entertainment for $1 less than one year ago.
Since then, it had been all roses for the entrepreneur before the Oilers’ loss.