Barstool Sports founder has $100K wager to win $10M on WNBA team
Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy has a $100,000 wager to win $10 million riding on rookie Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever to win the WNBA title.
Portnoy placed the bet at DraftKings sportsbook — which doesn’t operate in Nevada — at 100-1 odds during the WNBA’s Olympic break.
“Caitlin Clark is a top 3 player in the league. Maybe the best. She got rest for the 1st time in a year,” he posted Aug. 11 on X (@stoolpresidente) above a screenshot of the wager. “Aliyah Boston and her chemistry grows every game. They started 1-8. 10-7 since then and improving. I had to do it.”
The Fever have gone 6-1 since the Olympic break to improve to 17-16, clinching their first playoff berth since 2016 on Tuesday night.
“This bet is the 1st thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about before I go to bed,” Portnoy posted Sunday, when he won $100,000 on a $155,000 money-line wager on the Fever (-155) over the Dallas Wings.
This bet is the 1st thing I think about when I wake up in the morning and the last thing I think about before I go to bed. #FeverRising #dkpartner pic.twitter.com/tCrgMo5ntC
— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) September 1, 2024
Indiana, which hosts the Los Angeles Sparks on Wednesday, is now the 16-1 fifth favorite at the Westgate SuperBook to win it all.
The New York Liberty are the +120 favorites, followed by the two-time defending WNBA champion Aces (+350), the Minnesota Lynx (+450) and the Connecticut Sun (+750).
DraftKings sportsbook director Johnny Avello, who lives in Las Vegas, confirmed Portnoy’s wager.
“They’re a pretty good team,” he said of the Fever. “They’re getting better. But are they good enough to beat our local team (the Aces) or the Liberty or maybe a couple others? I don’t know. They’re still a pretty good long shot.”
Clark, the No. 1 pick in the 2024 WNBA draft, is ninth in the league in scoring with 18.7 points per game and leads the league in assists with 8.4 per game.
Indiana guard Kelsey Mitchell, the No. 2 pick in the 2018 draft, is eighth in the league in scoring (19.0 ppg). Boston, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, is averaging 13.4 points and 9.0 rebounds per game.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.