How the Knicks broke the bookies: Gambling sites took a bath on NBA champs

The house always wins? Betting sites paid out tens of millions the week the Knickerbockers steamrolled the Spurs

By Katie Honan, The City Reporter

June 29, 2026

The New York Knicks weren’t the only people who won big when the team defeated the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

The week they clinched their first championship in 53 years, sports betting companies lost more than $48 million — the first time the house lost since data has been kept in 2022 — according to the state’s Gaming Commission.

Since January 2022, the gross gaming revenue, or GGR, always had companies like FanDuel and DraftKings up, regardless of how much was bet.

But for the week ending June 14 — when games 3, 4, and 5 were played between the Knicks and the Spurs — gaming groups paid out big, losing $48,515,979. The GGR is calculated by subtracting the total amount wagered with how much winnings were paid out.

Wagers for that week topped out at more than $587,580,000, data shows.

Without day-by-day data, it’s unclear exactly what caused the rare shock to betting logic. Asked if the tens of millions lost was related to the Knicks run, Lee Park, deputy executive director of the state’s Gaming Commission, said in an email: “Your hypothesis is likely.”

Knicks fans show disapproval of San Antonio Spurs star Victor Wembanyama during the team’s NBA finals victory parade in Lower Manhattan, June 18, 2026. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/The City Reporter

Since January, more than $12.8 billion has been wagered on mobile sports betting sites, according to state data.

But during the second week in June, the companies who usually rake in the dough were doling it out instead, spurred on by the Knicks’s underdog status and popularity in New York City.

The blue and orange toll: Caesars Sportsbook lost more than $3.7 million, DraftKings Sportsbook lost more than $14 million, and Fanatics lost more than $5.8 million, state data shows. FanDuel lost the most, handing over more than $22.5 million.

Emails to the online betting companies were not immediately returned.

Millions of Knicks fans packed the streets in Lower Manhattan to watch the team’s NBA finals victory parade, June 18, 2026. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/The City Reporter

The Knicks were down 76 to 49 at the half when ESPN Bet said they were the 20.5-point underdogs during Game 4, at Madison Square Garden. At their lowest, they were down 29 points to the Spurs.

But the team stormed back, outscoring a shell-shocked San Antonio 55 to 25 in the game’s final minutes — capped off by OG Anunoby’s miraculous tip-in shot with a little over 1 second left.

It was the largest comeback in NBA Finals history.

The Knicks started the season with 10-1 odds of winning the championship, but that rose to 19-1 odds during a fluctuating season, according to ESPN.

Spurs star Victor Wembanyama was the favorite to be named Finals MVP, according to DraftKings Sportsbook. It went instead to Knicks guard Jalen Brunson.

Those two longer-term bets were also paid out that week, adding to the total.

‘Karmic comeuppance’

One Knicks fan, the freelance writer who publishes under the nom-de-plume Abe Beame, hadn’t placed a sports bet in years when the Knicks were down by 20 in Game 4.

“I wish I could say it was an educated bet, but it was a bit of a prayer,” he told The City Reporter.

He placed a straight money bet of $20 on DraftKings, and won $120.

“It made one of the best nights of my life even better,” the longtime Knicks fan said, describing the extra cash as “a karmic comeuppance for so many years of agony, pain, and suffering.”