NY Knicks Title Win Cost DraftKings, FanDuel & Other Top Betting Sites Over $40 Million?
Not only did the New York Knicks soothe the souls of long-suffering fans when they brought the city its first championship in over 50 years last month, but they also helped to put a bunch of money in their pockets.
The spring of 2026 will go down as the greatest in Knicks history. After falling down two games to one in their series against the Atlanta Hawks, the team made some key adjustments and began one of the most dominant runs in NBA playoff history. Crushing teams and posting the biggest postseason point differential of all time en route to their first NBA Finals trip in 26 years.
While things did not come easy in the Finals, they were able to defeat a talented San Antonio Spurs team in five games, which included the greatest comeback in playoff history after being down by 29 points in Game 4. New York’s rise to become the new champs was so compelling and fun that it earned them five ESPY awards on Wednesday night. Including Best Team and Best Athlete for Jalen Brunson.
It was an improbable run few expected, including sports betting sites like DraftKings and FanDuel. According to a new report from Katie Honan of The City Reporter, major betting sites lost $48 million in bets after the Knicks won the 2026 NBA Championship in June.
She revealed that the combination of bets for the Knicks to win Game 5 in San Antonio and the end-of-year bets that picked New York before the season started led to the biggest one-day loss for online oddsmakers.
“In New York, they had to pay that all out in one week. And it was the first time since they’ve had online sports gambling in New York state that they paid out more than $48 million. They paid out more money than they brought in just that week.”
Honan noted that the sites are still doing just fine and they made their money back, plus they did well during the NBA season anyway. But during that legendary week in NY sports, DraftKings lost $14 million. Fanatics lost more than $5.8 million. FanDuel lost the most with more than $22.5 million.
