Dave Portnoy Has $1.6M Riding On Celtics to Win NBA Finals

Barstool founder Dave Portnoy has placed a $1.6 million bet on the Boston Celtics to win the 2024 NBA Finals against the Dallas Mavericks. If Boston wins the NBA Finals, he will win $1.59 million.

Dave Portnoy claims to have won $5.4 million on sports betting after five months in 2024

According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the top-ranked Celtics are currently a -225 favorite to win the NBA Finals in a matchup with the No. 5 seed Dallas Mavericks, after taking Game 1 on Thursday night.

“Guys, I hate to be that guy but I have the Celtics for 1.1 million and the Oilers for another million,” Portnoy said on X.

Portnoy’s initial post on his Celtics wager revealed that he would net about $1.5 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,” he added.

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. https://t.co/c1r8zmncCh

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) June 3, 2024

Through five months of 2024, Portnoy claims he has won $5.4 million on sports betting. The 47-year-old wagered $100,000 on a two-leg parlay featuring Scottie Scheffler winning the Masters (+550).

Portnoy previously won $1 million after the Michigan Wolverines defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide to advance to the national championship.

Later that night, he won $500,000 when the Washington Huskies upset the Texas Longhorns to set up a matchup with Michigan.

Portnoy won $500,000 when the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII

On Feb. 11, Dave Portnoy won another half-million bucks when the Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII. Kansas City entered as a 2-point underdog. 

“Listen, I’ve had a pretty good run for the past 2 decades,” Portnoy wrote in a blog post at Barstool Sports in January. “I’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars. Boston sports teams have won like 9,000 titles. Everything has seemingly bounced my way. But my god 2024 is setting up for maybe my best year yet. We’re not even 48 hours into the new year and Michigan has already won the Rose Bowl.”

In the 77 NBA Finals that have been played, 70.1% of the champions have won the series opener. This is good news for Dave Portnoy and Celtics fans.

According to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, the C’s have a 66.4% chance of taking a 2-0 series lead at TD Garden this Sunday night.

Dallas is now 1-5 against the Celtics in its last six meetings. The Mavericks haven’t beaten the C’s in over two years — last doing so at TD Garden on March 13, 2022.