A sign of how deeply sports gambling has penetrated the culture is the flock of top athletes and celebrities who have signed on as paid shills for the companies that operate legally in many states, helping to propel the explosive growth of betting platforms. Tom Brady, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Jamie Foxx, Derek Jeter, Sydney Sweeney, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O’Neal, Eli Manning, Timothée Chalamet, Jon Hamm, Spike Lee and others have appeared in ads for sports books such as DraftKings, FanDuel and BetMGM and for “prediction markets” including Kalshi and Polymarket, which also take in billions of dollars in bets.
OPINION: Celebrities who shill for sports betting are the modern Marlboro Men
October 15, 2026 · 7:15pm ET | 4:15pm PT
Photo: LeBron James flickr photo by EDrost88 shared under a Creative Commons (BY 2.0) license
