The cross-over appeal between Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) and poker has led to DraftKings using two of poker’s hottest marketing celebrities, Dan Bilzerian and Jason Somerville, to promote its games.
Bilzerian has almost 10 million likes for his official Facebook page, around 2,000 times more than PokerStars Team Pro Jason Somerville, but Somerville may have a better connection with the market DraftKings is looking to recruit. Somerville is a master of the Twitch stream, and his Run It Up show has been the most popular poker show on Twitch.
Somerville’s work on Twitch has rapidly propelled him to celebrity status. Initially a pro for the now-defunct US-regulated Ultimate Poker, he signed up as a PokerStars pro in February this year.
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One unusual factor which stands out in his deal with DraftKings is that PokerStars owner Amaya has itself just entered the DFS arena with the purchase of Victiv. It plans to rebrand it as StarsDraft and offer Daily Fantasy Sports from within the PokerStars client by the start of the NFL season.
The busiest time in Daily Fantasy Sports starts in just two and a half weeks; it will be interesting to see how Somerville juggles these two competing sponsors.
