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"DraftKings desecrates memory of 9/11, and their partners are silent," is the headline appearing on the New York Post Friday morning.
Phil Mushnick blasts the company, and with good reason.
A little back story here as Gambling911.com reported earlier in the week.
DraftKings on Monday promoted a tasteless 9/11-themed "never forget" parlay bet on the 22nd anniversary of the terrorists attacks on the World Trade Center that killed more than 2000 people. Some of us were living in the city at the time and knew folks working in the towers, all of whom miraculously managed to get out alive or were late for work that day.
So, no, we will never forget and we certainly don't need DraftKings promoting one of their damn parlays to remind us.
DraftKings offered the promo to those in New York, most of whom likely have family members and friends who were closely tied to the events of 9-11 as we are.
And don't be fooled by assuming some low level marketing person thought this promotion might be cute and "sent it out without approval". These types of marketing gimmicks don't happen without the top marketing people at these publicly traded companies giving final approval due to compliance fears.
Phil Mushnick of the New York Post writes:
"Our sports have become so warped, so twisted and denuded by blinding greed that the natural moral outrage that should shame the perpetrators has been replaced by a distant whisper.
"In what still seems a ghoulish impossibility, this past Monday, Sept. 11, the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks that murdered nearly 3,000 innocents, the sportsbook, DraftKings, ran a 9/11 “Never Forget” New York special. It pitched a three-team parlay with the Jets, Mets and Yanks.
"To have exploited the 9/11 mass murder in the quest for more stacked-deck profit, is beyond all boundaries of what might still include boundaries."
He goes on to shame DraftKings’ partners, naming names. These included "the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB, PGA, pro tennis and NASCAR. Celebrity endorsers include or have included Kevin Hart, David Ortiz, Emmitt Smith, Lisa Leslie, Julius Erving and gambling hound Michael Jordan."
He does NOT name the New York Post however. (Scroll Down)
While we applaud the Post for writing this article, there is a certain irony in that their affiliate codes for other sports betting websites keep showing up in news aggregates (as seen above).
We should note that the Post does not seem to include affiliate promo codes anywhere for DraftKings. It's unclear as to whether this was the case before the tone deaf "Never Forget" bet or if the media outlet made a decision to cut them off thereafter.
The New York Post FanDuel promos are all over search and news aggregates. That company a few months back featured a tasteless social media post of a woman beat up.
WTF is @FanDuel doing with their social? Is the image of a beaten-up woman really what you want in your comms “Amy Ticketmaster”? https://t.co/uKzFjLrOhA
— Joe Brennan Jr (@joebrennanjr) November 28, 2022
We don't fault the writer as he's probably unaware of all of this. The problem is these US regulated sports betting companies continue to create bad press almost daily to the point of ad nauseam and seeing sportsbook promo codes pop up each time we search for New York Post news stories (it's one of our personal favorite news outlets), is simply not a good look.
- Chris Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher
