Whether you agree with having fun at the expense of New York Knicks fans or not, making fun of your bettors when you own a sportsbook is certainly a choice one can make. And it’s a choice that Fanatics founder and CEO Michael Rubin made, as the former Philadelphia 76ers minority owner tried to have fun at the expense of the Knicks (who lost Game 5 of their series against the Sixers 112-106 Tuesday).
“Fanatics Sportsbook crushed it yesterday thanks to all the Knicks fans betting against the Sixers—it made me so happy!! I just wanted to say thank you to all the Knicks fans,” Rubin wrote in a now-deleted post on X (formerly Twitter).
“Hahahahahaha bunch of fuckin’ LOSERS at my book bro. Dumb idiots just dumping money into my pocket. Thanks dorks!” – Michael Rubin running a sports book pic.twitter.com/JwuzaQHbWP
— JB (@OldTownCards) May 1, 2024
While Rubin has since deleted the particularly inflammatory post above, his justification for the comments – that he was supporting his “squad” – doesn’t fully address the issue. Sportsbook owners hold a position of trust, and such public displays of mockery will likely discourage fans from utilizing his licensed betting platform.
Fanatics Sportsbook told the New York Post that a whopping 63.5 percent of wagers landed on the Knicks, favored by 3.5 points in a lopsided betting affair. The underdog Sixers received minimal betting action on the money line.
So, it’s easy to see why Rubin would celebrate those profits. At the same time, it’s not a very good business model to be a sportsbook owner laughing at their customers, which is why he deleted the tweet.
But the follow-up seems to suggest Rubin made those comments as a die-hard Sixers fan. And while his celebration could be seen as more about his team’s win than gloating over profits, it didn’t land that way.
Rubin is discovering that owning a sportsbook is very different from owning a 10 percent stake in an NBA franchise. It’s been a tough enough year for Fanatics; do they need any more negative press? That remains to be seen, especially if that since-deleted tweet does rub some folks the wrong way.
[NY Post]
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.