Drew Brees stages a fake lightning strike as a marketing gimmick for a betting website
Drew Brees, quarterback for the New Orleans Saints and a legend in his own right, pretended to be hit by lightning in a publicity stunt for the gambling website PointsBet.
The tweet shows Brees filming a commercial for PointsBet in Catatumbo, Venezuela, an area notorious for lightning strikes, when a bolt supposedly hits him, throwing the production off track.
As of Friday noon, it had had racked up over a million views.
Brees later posted a video in which he said he is fine and “buzzing” about the sportsbook’s latest promotion involving its “lightning bets,” which allow customers to place wagers during the course of a game.
This antic occurs since online sportsbooks are increasingly competing for new business.
Washington University in St. Louis sports business department head Patrick Rishe commented, “Well it’s certainly a shock, literally and figuratively, I would say this is probably one of the worst decisions he’s made as a public figure.”
According to Rishe, “but boy, this really feels like it’s crossing the line.” The online sports betting market is dominated by DraftKings and FanDuel, thus PointsBet clearly wanted to do something extraordinary to garner attention in the market.
The Brees camp did not provide a remark in response to our request. PointsBet, which is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and has offices in the US, Canada, and the EU, has signed Brees as an ambassador.