- Betway has announced a multi-year promotional partnership with the NHL Philadelphia Flyers.
- Late last month, Betway signed a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers making them an ‘Official Partner’ of the NBA team.
- This is Betway’s second partnership with a NHL team joining the New York Islanders.
- Betway offers mobile sports betting in five US states including Pennsylvania. Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, and New Jersey are the others.
Super Group owned Betway was busier than anyone in October–they closed partnerships with three NBA teams and launched their mobile sports betting platform in Iowa. After taking a breather at the start of November, Betway is back at it again–they’ve just announced a multi-year promotional partnership with the NHL Philadelphia Flyers. Betway is now an ‘Official Sports Betting Partner’ of the Flyers–or at least that’s how they word it in their press release. An article on the Flyers’ official website simply says that they’re an ‘Official Partner’ of the NHL team.
The semantics of this is at least somewhat interesting since at last check BetRivers was ‘the Official Sportsbook Partners’ of the Philadelphia Flyers. In September 2019, The Flyers–as well as their home arena, the Wells Fargo Center–announced that the Rush Street Interactive PlaySugarHouse.com and SugarHouse Casino were now official sportsbook partners of both entities in a multi-year deal. They also announced the creation of PlaySugarHouse.com sports betting lounges inside the venue. Actually, they announced all of this and at the end of the press release said that they would be changing the branding to BetRivers.com and Rivers Casino Philadelphia by the end of the year. In early October, they announced the unveiling of the BetRivers.com lounges for the Flyers’ home opener. In this press release, there’s no mention of BetRivers as ‘the official sportsbook partners’ of the Flyers though there is reference to a ‘marketing partnership’. This is also the verbiage in a press release posted by the Wells Fargo Center.
At any rate, Betway was announced today as an official partner with no verbiage suggesting exclusivity. Betway branding will appear on the ice and on the boards during Flyers home games and they’ll get plugs on the team’s broadcasts and social media streams. Not sure what, if anything, has changed about the parameters of their relationship since Betway branding has appeared on the ice and boards at Flyers home games for awhile now. If you know anything about the NHL, you know that the Flyers are extremely popular in their home town and the team’s social media metrics reflect this:
The Flyers have some of the NHL’s most popular and wide-reaching social media accounts, which bring unmatched value to corporate partners. This season, the team is first in the league in Twitter engagements, first in Twitter Social value, and more. The team also set national TV viewership records last year and continue to post strong viewership ratings for both local and national broadcasts.
Betway CEO Anthony Werkman alluded to these metrics in his quote on the occasion of the partnership with the Flyers:
“Continuing the growth of the brand, we’re thrilled to add the Philadelphia Flyers to our burgeoning North American portfolio. Through our partnerships with both the Flyers and the 76ers, Betway now has a major presence in the fanatical sporting city of Philadelphia. The Flyers are one of the most popular teams in the NHL, setting social media and TV viewership records, so this partnership will give us huge exposure to fans throughout Pennsylvania who have access to our products.”
Mike Shane, Chief Business Officer for the Flyers, says that the partnership with Betway is a great fit for the organization. And again about the social media metrics!:
“As an organization, we focus on partnering with innovative, forward-thinking brands who understand not only where the sports industry is right now, but also where it’s going. This partnership with Betway is a great match for our organization, and thanks to our league-leading social media platforms and our consistently strong TV ratings, we’re able to provide our partners with incredible exposure and reach.”
Pennsylvania is a ‘too big to fail’ sports betting jurisdiction that would be doing New Jersey-like numbers were it not for the greed of the state’s politicians:
Pennsylvania is one of five states where Betway is live with mobile sports betting along with Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, and New Jersey. Not exactly a coincidence that these are the states where we often see positive developments in the sports betting ecosystem. Technically speaking, Pennsylvania isn’t on the level of Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, and New Jersey due to a less than competitive licensing scheme and an absurd 36% tax rate. Pennsylvania is in the same category with Illinois–they are ‘too big to fail’ despite politicians’ best efforts to the contrary. Pennsylvania is the fifth largest US state by population (12,801,989 as of 7/19) with Illinois right behind them in sixth place (12,671,821). Were it not for the greed and short sighted hubris of politicians in Pennsylvania and Illinois they would likely be doing the same amount of business as New Jersey which has approximately 4 million fewer citizens.
Then again, the 36% tax rate looks downright reasonable when compared to New York’s insane 52% tax rate for mobile sports betting. Can’t wait to see how far their numbers trail New Jersey whenever mobile betting actually launches in the Empire State.