The National Hockey League has entered into a multi-year partnership with PointsBet, making the operator the league’s official sports betting partner.

The deal also saw the NHL taking an equity stake in the betting operator, as it looks to take advantage of the ever changing sports betting landscape.

NHL-PointsBet Deal

In an effort to boost engagement with their fans, the NHL entered into a “strategic alliance” with PointsBet – an Australia-based online bookmaker.

According to the deal, PointsBet now gains the rights to use NHL marks and logos. It also enables the operator to provide a variety of sponsorship and promotional opportunities for its brand across various linear, digital, and social media assets. The NHL-PointsBet collaboration will span across the United States and Australia, where the NHL has a significant fan base.

Keith Wachtel, NHL chief business officer and senior executive vice president, welcomed the partnership with PointsBet in the press release.

“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.”

As for the NHL, the league is also poised to gain in their partnership after securing an equity stakes from the online bookie. PointsBet will issue the NHL with 43,106 shares which represents a value of approximately US$500,000.

More Market Exposure for PointsBet

PointsBet is expected to gain tremendous market exposure after closing a deal with the NHL. The deal enables the operator to integrate content into live NHL game broadcasts across its media partners, including NBC Sports, NBC Sports Regional Networks, Altitude TV, and other potential future linear alignments

The NHL, PointsBet and media partner NBC Sports have already initiated the first phase of Installation of specific contents – such as odds, data, and insight – to complement the pregame, in-game, and postgame broadcasts for the 2020-21 season.

Johnny Aitken, CEO of PointsBet USA, expressed his enthusiasm on their collaboration with the NHL, which he believes would further increase fan engagement for both brands.

“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.”