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Sportsbooks are obviously in the business of making money, and they have a tendency to do everything in their power to avoid paying out in instances where they’re responsible for screwing up. DraftKings did exactly that during the most recent ALCS, and it will have to fork over close to $1 million to a savvy bettor who took advantage of an error that netted them a massive payday.
The rise of legal sports betting has been a very welcome development for the sportsbooks that attract billions of dollars in bets on a yearly basis courtesy of gamblers who turn to their platforms in an attempt to defy the odds.
That includes DraftKings, which has yet to turn a profit after getting in on the sports betting gold rush in 2018 but has seen its yearly revenue skyrocket from around $225 million that year to over $4.7 billion in 2024.
Many of its users are constantly searching for an edge in their quest for a massive payday, but that’s easier said than done when you’re going up against a company that has an incredibly sophisticated algorithm designed to insulate it from any major losses and a fairly ironclad set of rules and regulations designed to prevent gamblers from exploiting potential loopholes.
However, someone in Massachusetts will be taking home a very hefty sum after doing exactly that.
DraftKings had to pay over $934,000 to a bettor who gamed the system with a series of parlays involving a Blue Jays player during the ALCS
Blue Jays outfielder Nathan Lukes recorded 99 hits in the 135 regular season games he appeared in with Toronto last season, and he added four more in the four games Toronto needed to beat the Yankees in the ALDS.
According to Bookies.com, a DraftKings user in Massachusetts went all-in on Lukes before his team faced off against the Mariners in the ALCS after discovering the platform had made an error that allowed him to stack “Hits Totals” bets in a single parlay.
That means wagers of 5 ( with odds of -303), 6 (-105), or 7 (+235) hits would also count if Lukes ended up with at least 8 (+550) over the course of a seven-game playoff series where he ultimately recorded nine. The stacking was made possible because DraftKings mistakenly labeled him as a “non-participant” instead of a “player,” which failed to trigger the safeguards that would have normally prevented that strategy.
That turned out to be a very lucrative venture for the person who bet a total of $12,950 on 27 different parlays, some of which also included low-risk bets concerning the winners of lopsided NFL matchups. 24 of them ended up hitting, and DraftKings found itself on the hook for $934,147.
The company appealed to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to attempt to cut its losses, arguing the person who placed the bets engaged in “fraud and unethical behavior” while floating a proposal that only would have required it to pay out a little less than $96,000 by honoring the bets that legitimately cashed.
BREAKING: DraftKings has asked the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to void $934,147 in winnings off a series of parlay wagers made during the 2025 ALCS. The operator says it mistakenly allowed a patron to parlay a series of “hit total wagers” during the ALCS. pic.twitter.com/lXoqGi2uiQ
— Bill Speros (@billsperos) December 18, 2025
However, the appeal was denied via a unanimous 5-0 vote on Thursday, which means someone in The Bay State is about to have a very merry Christmas.