DraftKings Sued for $14.2M over PGA Tour Pebble Beach Pro-Am Result

Newsweek

3 days ago

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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Last year at the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, the weather would not cooporate. PGA Tour Officials had to delay the final round of the tournament multiple times until they ultimately decided to award a winner after 54 holes.
Wyndham Clark was the leader and won the tournament.
However, why is a 2024 event even mentioned in 2025? Well, Nicholas Bavas, a man from Iowa, is taking on DraftKings. He is sueing the popular sports betting website for $14.2 million in alleged winnings, per a report from Golfweek.
Bavas is sueing the sports betting website and its subsidary Crown IA Gaming and claims that they unfairly voided his bets he placed for the 2024 event.
Despite there being a chance that the event could get canceled, Bavas and many other bettors continued to put money down on players in the lead. It seems he was aware of this, but DraftKings continued to allow people to bet, so Bavas did.
His lawsuit accuses the website for a "dizzying array of interlocking sets of rules that may or may not govern each bet depending on the type of wager placed, the specific event, and the particular sport ...when DraftKings makes an error or accepts a bet it should not have, or when unforeseen events occur that require an unanticipated large payout by DraftKings, then it seems different rules apply."
PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 05: Wyndham Clark of the United States poses with the trophy after winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links on February 05, 2024 in Pebble Beach,...
PEBBLE BEACH, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 05: Wyndham Clark of the United States poses with the trophy after winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am at Pebble Beach Golf Links on February 05, 2024 in Pebble Beach, California. More
Photo byBevas allegedly placed five bets on the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, all on the outcome of the event. The lawsuit states that he did this in the late hours of Saturday, Feb. 3.
He watched the weather continue to come down as historic rains drenched the California area.
The first bet he allegedly made came shortly after 10 p.m. on Feb. 3, 2024. Bevas made a $100 bet for a "20 Picks" parlay. Parlays are the type bet when the bettor selects multiple things to happen, and needs to hit each one correctly or the bet loses. Because of that, the payout grows exponentially with the amount of bets.
Bevas' bet would have earned him $4,651,571 if all of his picks were correct, and the lawsuit claims that, DraftKings accepted this wager.
The second bet came at 10:18 p.m. when he put $25 on a different kind of parlay. This one was picking top 20 finishers for an opportunity to win $250,068.
Bevas placed his third bet at 11:22 p.m. on Feb. 3. It was for $50 and was identical to the first one, and his potential earnings was $2,325,786.
Just before midnight at 11:59 p.m., Bevas made his fourth wager. It was another one identical to the first, for another $100. That payout was $4,651,571. The last bet came at 12:02 a.m. on Feb. 4, 2024. It was the exact same as the third one but for $50 with the potential to win $2,325,786.
Tour officials would delay the tournament that Sunday, Feb. 4 because of rain and wind. They continued to push back the start time until 9:15 p.m. when the PGA Tour finally announced the tournamnet would not be able to play the next day, ultimately ending the event after 54 holes.
The rub lies in the fact that Bevas bet on what the current leaderboard looked like. Essentially, he was betting that the tournament would end after just 54 holes.
The lawsuit states that because of that decision, all five of his bets would hit, and he should recieve $14.2 million in winnings.
Bevas' lawsuit alleges that the the betting site "unilaterally voided" all five of the wagers and gave him back his money. DraftKings cites its rules about "future bets" placed after the final shot of what is later determined to be the last round are canceled.
However, this is where it gets interesting as the Dallas County resident stated in his lawsuit that the rule does not seem to apply to bets on multiple players, which was the case for all of his parlay wagers.
The lawsuit is seeking damages for multiple reasons. The first is for breach of contract and the second is for violating consumer-protection laws.
His lawyer also claims they changed the rules after this specific tournament.
"If he had lost the bet and said, 'I want my money back because I didn't think the weather was going to cancel things,' DraftKings would have kept his money," Bevas' lawyer Ben Lynch said. "The rules that DraftKings had in place at the time of the tournament did not allow them to void the bets. They changed the rules after this tournament."
Bevas strategically placed these bets with the understanding that the weather could potentially cause a premature ending.
He was not the only person who placed wagers after that round, either. It appears many people were refunded their bets placed after play ended on Feb. 3, 2024.
It caused a lot of noise on social media when the betting company voided all of those bets.
Per the report, DraftKings and Crown IA Gaming have not filed any kind of response to Bevas' lawsuit.
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