The Florida Panthers hoisted the Stanley Cup on Tuesday night and cost a recent college grad more than $270,000 after he narrowly missed on a long-shot five-part wager that he placed one year ago.
Drew Hirschman, 24, plunked down $13 believing the Los Angeles Dodgers (MLB), the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL), the New York Liberty (WNBA), the Oklahoma City Thunder (NBA) and the Edmonton Oilers (NHL) would all win their titles.
He needed to go 5-0 to win this DraftKings parlay and take home $270,761.40, which had been looking good for months.
- The dominoes began falling for Hirschman when the Liberty won an overtime thriller in the deciding fifth game of the WNBA Finals, beating the Minnesota Lynx on Oct. 20.
- Then, 10 days later, the Dodgers won the World Series by vanquishing the New York Yankees in five games. Like any good gambler, Hirschman, a Yankees diehard, didn't let his heart prevent him from making the best play: "The Dodgers have always been a great team, so as a Yankees fan, that was a rough pick."
- Philadelphia grabbed the Lombardi Trophy, blowing out the two-time-defending champion Kansas City Chiefs, 40-22, in the Super Bowl on Feb. 9.
- Oklahoma City leads the Indiana Pacers, 3-2, in their best-of-seven NBA Finals. Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton is dealing with a lower right leg injury and might not play in Thursday night's Game 6 with OKC just one victory away from lifting the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
With Dodgers, Eagles and Liberty wins in the bank and OKC holding a strong edge, Hirschman's hopes were riding on Edmonton.
But the Oilers, who won Game 4 in overtime, ran out of gas and collapsed in the Games 5 and 6, dropping them by scores of 5-2 and 5-1.
"It definitely wasn't the best feeling last night," Hirschman told NBC News on Wednesday.
But there’s no need to feel bad for Hirschman, who made a series of hedge bets to make sure he came away with at least $75,000 in profit even without hitting the five-team parlay.
DraftKings jetted Hirschman, family members and friends to various games in recent weeks, making the experience, even with Florida's parlay-killing win, worth it.
"Obviously, I wanted the big ticket to win," he said. "But with all the hedges and stuff, I couldn't be mad at all about $13. I was a winner no matter what."
DraftKings offered a $5,300 cashout after the Eagles won the Super Bowl, which Hirschman declined.
"The experience was much better than just clicking the cashout," he said.
Hirschman, who lives in Rockland County, recently graduated from Binghamton University with a degree in computer engineering.
He's looking to start a career in that field but is open to hearing offers in sports or gaming.
"I obviously went to school for engineering," Hirschman said. "But I've had some interesting talks with people about potentially getting into sports and gambling. But even if I go into that, I still have a passion for engineering."
