Nearly a month after announcing that former NFL standouts Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson and Nick Mangold would be partnering with it as brand ambassadors, on Monday WynnBET revealed a similar agreement with a much bigger name (and person): Shaquille O’Neal.
According to a press release, the NBA Hall of Famer and Inside the NBA host will serve as a brand ambassador and strategic consultant with WynnBET, which also recently signed on the star soccer goalkeeper Tim Howard in a similar capacity. O’Neal will be featured on all the mobile sports betting app’s advertising platforms, attend fan-facing events, and create original content — as well as appear as a guest on broadcasts produced by WynnBET media partners Blue Wire Podcasts, Cumulus Media, and Minute Media. The partnership will also feature the launch of “ShaqPot,” a free-to-play game on the WynnBET app.
🚨 Introducing WynnBET's newest brand ambassador 🚨
Welcome to the team, @SHAQ! pic.twitter.com/xdo8xZd95A
— WynnBET (@WynnBET) August 9, 2021
‘A major moment’ for mobile sports betting
“Mobile sports betting is having a major moment, and I believe that WynnBET will be a powerful force in the industry,” O’Neal said in the release.
Meanwhile, Wynn Interactive CEO Craig Billings added, “Shaquille O’Neal has been a great friend of Wynn Las Vegas for many years, and we are thrilled to expand our relationship with him through a partnership with WynnBET. A successful businessman, NBA legend, and one of the most well-known personalities in sports media, we believe our players will enjoy interacting with him through the WynnBET app and are excited to feature Shaq in our advertising campaign set to debut later this summer.”
WynnBET is currently live in seven states (Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Virginia), with entry coming soon into two more (Iowa and Pennsylvania). In addition to the aforementioned individual ambassadors, WynnBET’s team partners include the Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Lions, Detroit Pistons, and Memphis Grizzlies. WynnBET also has a partnership with NASCAR at its Richmond and Martinsville tracks.
In order to comply with NBA rules regarding involvement with gambling companies, O’Neal will be selling his ownership stake in the Sacramento Kings, currently listed at odds of +25000 on WynnBET to win the 2022 NBA title. It’s hard to imagine the gregarious giant being especially upset about having to dissociate himself from such a mess of a franchise, and one wonders whether some epic stuffed cross-promotions with Papa John’s (another of the many brands O’Neal is involved with as a pitchman) might be in the offing.
At WynnBET, for the time being, he really is the new guy.
