Jason Somerville Partners with Daily Fantasy Sports Giant DraftKings
Jason Somerville has just inked a partnership deal with daily fantasy sports (DFS) giant DraftKings. According to Chris Grove at Legal Sports Report, full terms have not been disclosed — however, Somerville will continue to also represent PokerStars, where he became a Team Pro back in February.
The news comes as a bit of a surprise since Amaya Inc., the owner of PokerStars and Full Tilt, recently announced it was jumping into the DFS marketplace by acquiring second-tier DFS site Victiv. maya plans to rebrand the site as StarsDraft with initial plans to launch in U.S. markets before also offering services via the PokerStars platform.
It would seem natural to many that if Somerville, who recently turned $100 into $2,500 by winning a PokerStars Spin & Go, were to partner with a DFS site, it would be with StarsDraft due to his current affiliation with PokerStars.
Grove reports that the partnership deal will see Somerville promote DraftKings via his Run It UP programming. Somerville recently reached a two-year deal with Twitch to continue his Run It UP live streaming of live an online events via its platform.
As part of the deal, it is reported that DraftKings will also promote Somerville by hosting online satellite events for its players to a Run It UP live poker event taking place from October 20-25 at the Peppermill Casino in Reno.
I wouldn’t have been able to do this without UFC.
Somerville was reported to be "very resistant" in promoting DFS through his programming, admitting that he didn't have a DraftKings account until recently. However, his opinions reportedly changed once DraftKings introduced UFC events, of which Somerville is a great fan. Somerville shared with Legal Sports Report that, "I wouldn’t have been able to do this without UFC."
The potential for DraftKings is very big, considering Somerville recently attracted 1.4 million visitors in the United States alone in his latest streaming run.
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