The New York Knicks haven’t done a lot right over the past two decades, and that theme has continued this season both with the team they put on the court and their in-game promotions.
Anthony Peterson recently attended a game at Madison Square Garden and was invited to earn a prize by attempting a halfcourt shot. He drained the shot, and many people were stunned to learn it was only worth $1,000 in lottery scratch-off tickets.
This Knicks fan was hyped to win $1,000 in scratchers with this half-court shot pic.twitter.com/J815BM537c
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 11, 2020
Peterson said in an interview with Rob Perez of Action Network this week that he was disappointed.
“Well, when they said scratch-offs I instantly got a headache because I was going to have to scratch them all off,” Peterson said. “I thought about who I could hire to do it for me, but then figured they might want some of the money, so I negated that idea. I was sort of like, ‘What the f— man? Some dude just won $100,000 doing the same s— in L.A. and I get some bum a– lottery tickets.’ Still a blessing though.”
The prize for hitting a halfcourt shot is typically much more than the opportunity to win money, which is basically all $1,000 worth of scratch-offs is. As Peterson referenced, a fan at a Los Angeles Lakers game made $100,000 by hitting the same shot earlier this month.
From half-court for $100k?! Evan from La Habra is a @MandalayBay Big Shot Jackpot legend! pic.twitter.com/50lrM74nDu
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) January 6, 2020
Peterson said the scratch-offs were $5 tickets, which means he had to scratch 200 of them. He ended up with $500 in prizes and a sore wrist.
“I had to scratch in shifts because my wrists were throbbing and I had card dust all over my hands and home,” Peterson joked.
Fortunately, famous YouTuber MrBeast stepped in to make Peterson’s experience more worthwhile. He found out about the shot and the Knicks’ lame prize on social media, so he wrote Peterson a check for $10,000.
Just sent it to @APTheAngel if any other sports teams want me to run their half time show let me know https://t.co/eFVBtGx2cu
— MrBeast (@MrBeastYT) January 14, 2020
Peterson said the attention he got for hitting the shot has been “amazing,” and gave MrBeast a shoutout. He said he plans to invest the money wisely.
“I was thinking about buying 10,000 dollars worth of scratch-offs and sending them to Mr. Beast as a thank you, but unfortunately I live in New York City and everything is expensive,” Peterson said. “So I’ll either buy some Disney and Tesla stocks or buy a Leica.”
Even if the Knicks didn’t want to give out a $100K prize like the Lakers, we have seen prizes for halfcourt shots that are a lot more creative than a stack of scratch-offs. In any event, Peterson is now $10,500 richer.
