6 minute read
SPORTS PARTNERSHIPS
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS
Ontario’s new iGaming market binds bookies, ball clubs, and broadcasters even tighter
BY GEOFF ZOCHODNE
Canada’s Senate is supposed to be a chamber of sober second thought. However, last year, its members found themselves talking a lot about vice.
The object of this discussion was Bill C-218, the Safe and Regulated Sports Betting Act. The legislation was badly wanted by its supporters, including the commissioner of the Canadian Football League.
The CFL had been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the league to cancel its 2020 season. Singlegame sports betting, and the financial friendships it could bring, were a must.
“In our case, this will provide us with an opportunity to partner with industry leaders to reach new fans in more markets, which will drive ticket and merchandise purchases, broadcast ratings, and other engagement with our content,” CFL Commissioner Randy Ambrosie told the Senate’s banking, trade, and commerce committee on June 2, 2021, according to a transcript.
C-218 was passed by the Senate later that month, and it came into effect on August 27 of last year, ushering in a new age of sports betting in Canada. Even before then, though, the CFL announced a multi-year partnership with sportsbook operator BetRegal. The league added another partnership later with Genius Sports Ltd., a company that says it “powers the global ecosystem connecting sports, betting and media.”
The partnership phenomenon is old hat south of the border, where bookmakers have been buddying with teams, leagues, and land-based casino operators as legal sports betting spreads across the U.S. But Canada only just shrugged off its previous, parlay-heavy way of betting sports.
Since April 4, Ontarians have been subjected to a much more American-like experience that has helped bring bookmakers, ball clubs, and other businesses much closer together. In
addition to more than 20 apps and websites offering sports betting, slots, poker, and table games, the province’s new firstof-its-kind-in-Canada regulatory framework has spurred a fresh round of partnership announcements.
The Toronto Blue Jays and theScore Bet trumpeted a 10-year partnership that makes the latter the official gaming partner of the baseball team. The owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), has formed similar ties with PointsBet and FanDuel.
These are just some high-profile examples, and more partnerships are likely as bookmakers fight to establish themselves in the Ontario market. The partnerships also mean online sportsbooks get marketing opportunities and legitimacy, and teams, leagues, and broadcasters get an audience that can remain interested in even the most boring of games — perhaps there is a point total or player prop that could hit in the closing seconds.
“The active pace of these partnership announcements points to a highly competitive market, where customer acquisition and retention will be top of mind for all iGaming operators, whether their brand is well-known or brand new to Ontario players,” lawyers from Borden Ladner Gervais LLP wrote in a recent article.
Yet it remains to be seen if the flurry of partnerships will yield results for operators, or if it will only be a windfall for their partners. A 2021 survey sponsored by Deloitte Canada found that just 9.4 per cent of respondents would pick a sportsbook because of the backing of a current or former professional athlete, which could indicate a lack of enthusiasm for official alliances.
Still, the Deloitte study, which was released in February of this year, suggested the friendships being formed could be used to win over more casual bettors.
“Sports teams can work with their betting partners to build awareness of single-event sports-betting options while promoting responsible gaming behaviour and provide freeto-play games that can educate and engage bettors, attract new customers, and glean valuable customer data for teams and betting partners alike," the Deloitte report stated.
Kris Abbott, head of North America for Coolbet, said it can be hard to quantify the return on investment from partnerships. There are, however, some signals that can be sent to potential customers by allying yourself with “trusted” individuals, Abbott said.
Coolbet, a division of GAN Ltd., has joined forces with Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse. The promotional partnership was announced on April 7. “It lends credibility to your brand,” Abbott said in an interview. “And it also shows everyone else that, hey, Coolbet is not some kind of fly-by-night operation. They're investing in the big personalities in our country.” Sportsbook operators have jousted for airtime as well.
FanDuel Group and TSN were quick to announce on April 4 a multi-year tie-up that named FanDuel as the network's official sportsbook partner, beginning in Ontario.
Dale Hooper, general manager of FanDuel Canada, said their goal for the TSN relationship is to “augment” the experience for fans. FanDuel brings analytics and insights from its oddsmakers to the table, and TSN can weave those facts and figures into stories viewers can digest.
“The viewing experience is just richer, it’s deeper, and it's better,” Hooper said in an interview. “It’s a great benefit, because the more people are engaged — in a sport, in a team, or in a player — the longer they're going to watch, and perhaps the more likely they may be to have some fun and put a small wager on one of those games or those players.”
Sports fans in Canada, and Ontario especially, are being served a steady diet of sports betting-related television. The ad boom has prompted concerns about increased addiction and what some say can be an annoying viewer experience at times.
Operators have tried to get out in front of those concerns, such as by seeking to make responsible gaming a key part of the messaging in Canada. The advertising may also be necessary to pull customers away from the longstanding grey market.
The partnerships and their related marketing are not ending anytime soon either. Football season is still to come, which is the busy season for bookmakers.
And it is still relatively early days for the opening of the Canadian sports betting industry. There is potential for other provinces to follow Ontario’s lead, giving bookmakers new markets in which to play.
“I think as any industry evolves, and the regulations change, and as different provinces open up, I think it's really important that your partnerships evolve,” FanDuel’s Hooper said.
Another example of the relative newness is the CFL has yet to play a season with Ontario’s iGaming market in operation.
As Ambrosie noted in his state-of-the-league remarks to the media last year, Genius Sports became a minority equity investor in the league’s commercial business, meaning they now have some financial skin in the threedown game.
“They're going to bring basically the entire world of all of their capabilities to the CFL,” the commissioner said. “And we're going to do it as partners.”
Geoff Zochodne is a sports betting journalist at Covers and previously spent time writing about business and politics at the Financial Post and QP Briefing.
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