WASHINGTON (TND) — Barstool Sports owner Dave Portnoy is once again at odds with the National Football League after spurring the internet into a firestorm following his recent massive betting loss.
Portnoy placed a $120K bet on the Cincinnati Bengals to either win or lose by less than four points against the Baltimore Ravens last week, a bet that carried a potential payout of over $229K. The game resulted in a score of 34-20 in favor of the Ravens, a loss for both the Bengals and Portnoy.
Following the game, reports that Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow played with a preexisting injury while not being included on the team’s injury list began circulating. Portnoy sounded off on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, announcing a “class action lawsuit” against the Bengals and the NFL. The post has earned 8 million views.
Portnoy now appears to be implying the NFL is “rigged” and working to ensure losing streaks stay alive.
READ MORE | Dave Portnoy says he’s suing Bengals and NFL over Burrow injury: ‘Refund all bets!’
“The refs did whatever they could [to] keep this game under. #nflrigged,” Portnoy said of the Dolphins vs. Raiders matchup Sunday.
“THESE REFS ARE KILLING ME IN MIAMI!!!! THE FIX IS IN!!!!'” he later added.
The events of the game appeared too stacked against his bet to be a coincidence, Portnoy argued.
“I have Dolphins and the over. It’s double loser now thanks to that overturned Td,” he said. “That’s how it works. And it’s all because of the Joe Burrow injury. That’s also how it works.”
In an effort to turn his fortunes around, the high roller then placed a bet on the Utah vs. St. John’s men’s basketball game.
“I haven’t won a bet since the Joe Burrow game,” Portnoy wrote on X. “I’m going pot limit on Utah basketball -5.”
This decision too ended in defeat, something the Barstool Sports owner called the “worst tilt bet” of his “life.”
“Message to the kids. Don’t bet on tilt,” he wrote. “Never ends well. Dave is taking a deep breath and moving on.”
Representatives of NFL media affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The National Desk Monday on Portnoy’s allegations or his lawsuit threat.
The Barstool Sports founder has a long history of conflict with the NFL, stemming back to the league banning him in 2015 from all league events.