The National Hockey League has strengthened its ties with legal sports betting with its latest deal.
The Australian sportsbook operator PointsBet has entered into a multi-year strategic partnership with the National Hockey League (NHL) for sports betting, which will see the league acquire a small stake in the operator.
The deal
The deal will apply to both the US and Australia markets and will see PointsBet become an official sports betting partner of the league.
PointsBet will secure the rights to use NHL marks and logos as well as access to a range of sponsorship and commercial opportunities across digital, social media and linear assets. The deal will also allow the integration of PointsBet content into live NHL game broadcasts across the leagues’ partners which includes NBC Sports, Altitude TV and any other future partners.
The operator, NBC Sports and the NHL have already started integrating content for the 2020-2021 NHL season such as PointsBet odds, data and analysis content which will run alongside game broadcasts.
The deal will also see the NHL take a small stake in the sportsbook operator. PointsBet has agreed to issue 41,306 fully paid ordinary shares representing $500,000 to the league.
The shares will remain in a holding lock and be issued to the league in equal proportions in 12, 24 and 36-month intervals.
Keith Wachtel, NHL Chief Business Officer and Senior Executive Vice President said: “As the sports betting landscape evolves at a rapid pace, we continue to develop unique, strategic alliances within the sports gaming industry.
“Our partnership with PointsBet brings to life our collaboration with our valued media partners and we look forward to enhancing our fan engagement opportunities in concert with both PointsBet and NBC. We are proud to welcome PointsBet to the NHL family.”
Johnny Aitken, chief executive of PointsBet USA, said: “The NHL’s on-ice product provides fans with captivating, nonstop action – it is a privilege to join forces with the NHL and its forward-thinking team, complementing that action with PointsBet’s sports betting product.”
“We are excited to further elevate fan engagement via offering the most markets in the world for each NHL game, including our exclusive PointsBetting product, and enhance TV and digital integrations with mutual partners like NBC Sports.”
PointsBet continues US expansion
The Australian sportsbook operator has been hard at work expanding its presence in the US sports betting market.
PointsBet currently offers online sports betting in six states which includes New Jersey, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Iowa and Indiana. The operator is also pending launch in Tennessee and Virginia.
In January, the operator agreed partnerships with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings and the NBA’s Detroit Pistons in preparation for its launch in Michigan.
