An Upper East Side beer garden owner is betting on a big night for the Knicks – and for his customers.
Patrons at The Jeffrey will get $100 off their bar tab if the home team beats the San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the NBA Finals Wednesday night – but owner Andy Freedman is softening the financial blow by hedging $5,000 on the Knicks through prediction market Kalshi.
“The city’s a buzz, it’s great for the bar scene,” Freedman, a big orange-and-blue fan, told The Post.
“Since the pandemic there really hasn’t been this extensive communal excitement that the Knicks have brought out in New Yorkers and really we’re just feasting and feeding off that.”
The novel approach came after the watering hole offered another promo – 1-percentage point off every customer’s bill for each point the Knicks won in their Game 4 matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The bar ended up slashing prices by 37% thanks to the Knicks’ dominating 130-93 victory – with the promo getting so much attention that Bloomberg wrote a story about it.
A rep with Kalshi caught wind of the promotion and offered Freedman, who is also a Manhattan lawyer, a deal he couldn’t turn down.
“I’m not an obsessive gambler, but I dabble every now and then,” he said. “I looked into a few things and decided it’d be a really cool thing to run with.”
The bar blasted out a social media video about the deal – explaining that if the Knicks win, bar customers get $100 off their tabs, but he’s expected to rake in more than $13,000 from Kalshi if the Knicks triumph, meaning he’d recoup a good portion of his expected losses.
He’d be out of the $5,000 if the Knicks fall short, but the buzz from the promo should make up the difference with a busy night at the spot.
The potential discount doesn’t include tipping or taxes.
Freedman co-founded The Jeffrey in 2013 and has been in New York for 23 years.
Since he became a New Yorker, he’s proudly supported the Knicks through their ups and many downs.
“It’s been nothing short of amazing, it’s historic the run they’ve been on,” Freedman said. “And you gotta hope it keeps on going.”
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