Getty Image
Most dedicated gamblers are aware of the four-word phrase that sums up the theoretical futility of that particular endeavor: the house always wins. However, one man who learned that lesson after trying to game the system has filed a massive lawsuit against DraftKings in the hope of getting the money he was deprived of.
Sports betting has become an absolutely massive industry in America since the landmark Supreme Court ruling that opened up the door for states to legalize the practice within their borders in 2018. In 2024, sportsbooks collectively accepted close to $150 billion in bets while generating $13.71 billion in revenue in the process.
Most of the gamblers who’ve helped those companies thrive dream of the day they’re able to come across a loophole that allows them to get rich quick, but that’s much easier said than done when you consider every sports betting operation goes to great lengths to ensure it comes out on top at the end of the day.
According to the Des Moines Register, an Iowa resident named Nicholas Bavas was hoping to do exactly that with the help of the inclement weather that rolled through California during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in 2024.
Heavy rain and wind impacted play during the first three rounds of the tournament, and organizers ultimately opted to call it off after 54 holes.
Bavas smelled an opportunity after taking a glimpse at the weather forecast on Saturday night and decided to hop on DraftKings to place a series of parlays where he listed the top 20 golfers on the leaderboard at the time.
Four of those wagers were a bet that would theoretically cash if he correctly predicted the exact order of the top 20—identical slips that collectively cost him $300 with a total payout of $13,954,714. He also placed one more for $50 that allowed the members of the top 20 to finish in any order in the hopes of netting $250,068, which boosted his potential winnings to a grand total of $14,204,782.
That’s the sum Bavas is seeking in the lawsuit he recently filed against DraftKings after it voided all of the bets in the wake of the tournament’s cancellation, justifying the decision by pointing to a rule that states “futures bets placed after the last shot of what is later determined to be the final round are voided.”
That seems like a pretty straightforward (and reasonable) stipulation, but the lawsuit that charges DraftKings with breach of contract and violations of consumer-protection laws asserts that the rule only applies to bets concerning individual players as opposed to parlays where multiple ones are in the mix.
Ben Lynch, the attorney representing Bavas, also asserted the sportsbook is taking advantage of the one-way street he says it operates on, saying:
“If he had lost the bet and said, ‘I want my money back because I didn’t think the weather was going to cancel things,’ DraftKings would have kept his money.
The rules that DraftKings had in place at the time of the tournament did not allow them to void the bets. They changed the rules after this tournament.”
It’s worth noting that DraftKings voided every bet that was based on the assumption all 72 holes would be completed (including those that were placed before the third round wrapped up), and the company has not officially responded to the lawsuit or commented on the matter as of this writing.