Dave Portnoy wins $500,000 on Washington: 'Setting up for my best year yet'

The Michigan Wolverines weren’t the only team to make money for Dave Portnoy on New Year’s Day. 

After winning $1 million with the Wolverines’ win over the Alabama Crimson Tide on Monday, Portnoy won another half-million dollars when the Washington Huskies upset the Texas Longhorns to make the college football national championship game. 

“Listen I’ve had a pretty good run for the past 2 decades,” Portnoy wrote in a blog post at Barstool Sports. “I’ve made hundreds of millions of dollars. Boston sports teams have won like 9,000 titles.  Everything has seemingly bounced my way. But my god 2024 is setting up for maybe my best year yet. We’re not even 48 hours into the new year and Michigan has already won the Rose Bowl.”

“I won 1 million on Michigan. I won 500k on Washington and now Claudine Gay got her ass fired at Harvard. Yes I know they are saying she resigned just like the UPenn lady [Liz Magill] resigned (wink, wink).”

Aside from gambling wins, Portnoy mentioned the start of the year is off to such a great start in part thanks to Harvard’s Claudine Gay resigning from the Ivy League University on Tuesday after plagiarism and antisemitism scandals.

The school had previously refused to remove her despite mounting pressure both internally and externally.

Portnoy was outspoken on all three Ivy League colleges’ representatives, saying, “It was disgusting what those deans and presidents did under oath.”

The Barstool President said he would not hire any graduates from those colleges until they are removed from their positions of power.

“MIT on the clock,” Portnoy said in a post on X after Harvard announced her resignation.

In all, it was a $1.5 million day for the man who broke his sports gambling retirement last month to bet on Michigan’s College Football Playoff semifinal matchup against Alabama.

“Holy f–king s–t, I’m a million f–king bucks richer, we’re going to f–king Houston,” Portnoy said in a video from inside Rose Bowl Stadium after the Wolverines’ win. “Finally the Big Ten punched the SEC in the mouth. Watching their teeth break.

“Tale of two halves, we dominated the first and they dominated the second. … When everything was on the line, it was the Michigan men who stood up and made plays when we need to.”

Michigan will take on Washington for the national title next Monday in Houston.

The Wolverines opened as 3.5-point favorites and have now settled in at -4.5 at BetMGM Sportsbook.

The Michigan University alum is likely sizing up another big wager on Jim Harbaugh’s group in Monday’s national title game.