The Bad, The Ugly, And The (Two) Good Sportsbook Commercials – US Bets

Sports betting commercials dot the national landscape, and they are almost uniformly horrible.

Some are horrible because the attempt at humor falls flat. Some are horrible because they encourage problem gambling. Some are horrible because well, just because they are horrible.

So heres an incomplete list of the worst of the bunch.

But before we go and deem thee the Grinch of Sports Betting Commercials, know this: There are two I really enjoy. I chuckled both times I first saw them, and continue to chuckle today.

They are a pair of commercials from Caesars that feature the entire Manning family dad Archie, former NFL superstars Peyton and Eli, and eldest son Cooper, who works for a real estate firm. The first one was Thanksgiving-themed, and featured J.B. Smoove as Caesar and Halle Berry did you realize that was Halle Berry?!?! as Cleo. Theyre meeting each other for the first time, Kenny Mayne is there, and Caesar tells us who his favorite Manning is. Its Cooper. Cooper is his favorite.

But the next time they meet is at the Thanksgiving table, and Caesar has seemingly forgotten who his favorite is

And youre Cooper, right? Caesar asks, to which Cooper replies, I am.

And then Caesars line and something tells me its more Smooves line slays me: You look fabulous tonight.

What can I say? I love Smoove, the mashup between him and the Mannings works, Halle Berry(!) is there, and Cooper is more than game to be in their presence.

Alas, not all Caesars commercials have been big hits. Like the We Are All Caesars debut

We are, I am, you are loud, obnoxious, and nonsensical.

And thus begins the worst part of our program.

For my money, the absolute worst commercials I discovered in my deep YouTube dive belong to Tipico, a German-based sportsbook thats live in New Jersey and Colorado. Heres a pair of their efforts. They are both loud Ive heard them in podcast form, and theyve legitimately woken me up and they both prey on what can only be deemed as bad gambling psychology to get their point across.

First up, the feel something commercial, where were told the only way to actually feel alive in this dark and depressing world is to bet on sports. (Or to be attacked by a snake.)

And then theres the FOMO, I knew it! aspect of the gamblers brain, when you knew what the outcome of the game was going to be (ha!!!!!) and yet didnt wager on it. This one is bad. It might be the worst, period. Plus, the guy looks like hes insane. Did I mention its loud? So loud.

These next two from BetMGM arent terrible in the traditional sense, but they sure are hilarious matched next to each other. Theyre basically the same commercial, except one features Jamie Foxx, an Oscar-winning actor who, here, amps himself up into a bit of an overly manly, aggressive stance. Next up is Wayne Gretzky, who I think? attempts to do the same. Gretzky, however, is not an Oscar-winning actor.

And while the above two commercials take a more serious look at sports betting, a more recent entry by BetMGM attempts humor with Kevin Garnett.

It doesnt work.

Garnett, in retirement, is clearly stopping to smell the roses. But then he gets an alert that he just won a bet and its clearly early morning wherever Garnett is, which would seem to indicate he just won a Russian table tennis wager and then he pretty much loses his mind.

Stick to Adam Sandler movies, Kev.

I dont actively dislike Ben Affleck, but hes not exactly someone I could see myself enjoying time with. I dont know about you, but when I think of Affleck, I think of Matt Damon, and when I compare the two, Damon is the guy Id want to drink beers with.

Im sure Bens a nice fella or whatever, but I dont think Im alone in my Affleck-mehness. Ive legit never been in a conversation with my contemporaries where Ive ever heard anything that was Affleck-positive. Honestly, have never really heard anything Affleck-negative, either.

Meh Affleck, I say.

But WynnBet decided nope, Ben is our guy. And so is Melvin Gregg, who is famous enough, but I had to look him up. Oh, and one other thing: The commercial is dopey, treating Affleck as a regular guy just like us despite the limo ride with the Martin Scorsese stand-in. I dont get it.

and fail, miserably.

These FanDuel spots from 2019 are just inane. The first one features a guy so caught up in sports betting that he doesnt realize his wife is schtupping some other schlub, and the next features a guy who is bringing more risk into the world to counter-balance FanDuels risk-free (spoiler alert: its not risk-free) first bet offer. Bonus points for terribleness: In the second spot, the risk-free bet is on the coin flip. Awesome messaging there, FanDuel.

Not to be outdone, DraftKings tried for humor earlier this year with a series of commercials featuring Martin Lawrence, Kristen Schaal, the big dopey guy from Veep, and an unrecognizable McLovin in a rip-off of the Pixar movie Inside Out. These are just flat-out not funny. At all.

And when DraftKings didnt go for laughs, they brought in their own Jessie Coffield, who really should fire her agent for allowing her to say Nailed it! at the end of this commercial. Youre never going to unhear it. Sorry.

Drew Brees makes Wayne Gretzky look like Jamie Foxx. First, hes in a spaceship for PointsBet. Next, he attempts to correctly pronounce parlay. (Is there a regional dialect thing going on with parlay? Will investigate. Anyway )

Anyway, in both, hes forced to say PointsBets silly tagline: Live your bet life. Yikes all around.

The only reason this spot from Unibet wasnt the worst of the worst thank you, Tipico! is because the music isnt jarring. But the message my gosh, its just terrible. Its basically selling degenerate gamblers as the poster boys for a good time. It features two frat bros winning big on an opening tip, a retiree shushing a birthday party for his wife so he can watch a putt, and two hockey fans who know nothing about womens tennis but are now gleefully betting on womens tennis.

So what have we learned? Not a lot, alas, except the sportsbook commercial landscape is downright terrible. Be better, sportsbooks. Also: More Cooper Manning and Halle Berry.

Image: Shutterstock

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The Bad, The Ugly, And The (Two) Good Sportsbook Commercials - US Bets