The companies’ first joint deal
Caesars Entertainment and William Hill US announced a new sports betting partnership deal with the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts. This is the first time the Caesars and William Hill are jointly partnering with a pro football team.
a grand prize of a trip to Las Vegas
This deal, announced on Monday, will see Caesars Rewards sponsor a free-to-play “Pick 6 Predictor” game through the team’s mobile app. Prizes will be handed out every week when people correctly answer questions, with a grand prize of a trip to Las Vegas.
Once there is regulatory approval, the Caesars mobile betting app will also become part of the marketing and media of the Colts. Caesars Entertainment announced the new partnership on Twitter:
Speaking about this new deal, the Colts’ chief sales and marketing officer Roger VanDerSnick said: “In the digital age, and particularly this virtual world in which we find ourselves now, finding new ways to engage with our fans, partners and community is one of our top priorities.”
Caesars Entertainment’s co-president of sports and online gaming Chris Holdren noted how the expanded partnership that now includes William Hill “deepens our strong ties within the community.”
Continual expansion
The news of the agreement comes just a few weeks after the Colts announced PointsBet USA as a betting partner for an initial one-year term. Many teams in the NFL now have one or more sports betting partners, with the NFL itself having a casino sponsorship deal in place with Caesars Entertainment.
Caesars and William Hill are long-running partners, with the latter having exclusivity over the operation of all the sportsbooks at Caesars properties.
In September, Caesars announced that it agreed to acquire William Hill in a deal worth about $3.7bn. The hope from both parties is that the deal will close by the end of 2021, pending regulatory approval and other closing conditions.
Sports betting in Indiana
Retail sportsbooks have been open in Indiana since September 2019, with online sportsbooks opening the following month. Governor Eric Holcomb signed sports betting legislation into law in May 2019, only about four months before sportsbooks launched.
After the first 12 months of legal sports betting, Indiana’s sportsbooks had generated over $1bn in total handle. Most of the bets came through online sportsbooks. In addition to the Indianapolis Colts, the NBA’s Indiana Pacers have signed partnership deals with PointsBet USA and DraftKings.