- Novig requires traders to be 21, three years above the 18-and-up floor Polymarket and Kalshi use.
- Sweeney approached Novig about an equity partnership and is now on its cap table, chief executive Jacob Fortinsky said.
- The ad launched four days after LeBron James first teased his own partnership with Polymarket on Sept. 5.
- Novig markets itself as sports-only, barring the war, death and political contracts its rivals offer.
NEW YORK – Sydney Sweeney became an equity holder in sports prediction market Novig this week, fronting an ad campaign for a platform that requires traders to be 21, four days after rival Polymarket unveiled its own celebrity partner, LeBron James.
An Equity Stake On Top Of The Ad
Sweeney approached Novig about an equity partnership rather than a standard endorsement deal, and the company made her an owner, Fortinsky told Front Office Sports. “We’re very excited to have her on the cap table,” he said, declining to disclose the size of her stake or what the company paid her to appear in the ad.
A Line No Rival Draws
The ad, posted Wednesday, shows Sweeney covering herself with footballs, basketballs and hockey pads while promoting the exchange ahead of the NFL season. Fortinsky said Sweeney helped craft the company’s own description of its limits: “No wars. No death. No politics. Just sports.”
Those limits stop well short of what Polymarket and Kalshi allow. Novig’s trading floor starts at 21, three years past the 18-and-up minimum its two larger rivals use, and it markets itself among a wave of prediction market apps as the one that won’t list a contract on anyone’s death. The exchange has been defending that footprint in court, suing Wisconsin in August in its fifth state suit in 10 days.
The Same Week Polymarket Made Its Own Celebrity Bet
LeBron James first teased a partnership with Polymarket on X on Sept. 5, writing “Welcome to Polymarket HQ. Coming soon,” a deal that makes him the first NBA player with an individual partnership on the exchange. James posted the full commercial Tuesday, and Sweeney’s spot landed a day later, putting two celebrity-fronted exchanges in front of the same audience that drives legal sports betting as the NFL season opens.
