Targeting European viewers

PokerStars has signed a deal with Formula 1 (F1) that will see it become an official betting sponsor of the racing organization. The Flutter Entertainment-owned gambling brand announced that the deal will be in place until 2023.

Virtual advertising specialist Interregional Sports Group (ISG) will be facilitating this partnership in its role as the data rights and sponsorship partner of F1. The companies will target audiences in European broadcasts with virtual PokerStars branding trackside during race weekends.

Welcome this new agreement

Discussing the new deal was PokerStars group marketing director Tom Warren. He spoke about how this agreement will help PokerStars reach a fan base that is very passionate about sports. He said: “To be able to engage an audience of this size and yet focus just on the regions that are key to us makes this a very exciting proposition.”

the deal will allow for innovation and enhanced engagement with fans

Also speaking about the partnership was ISG CEO Tony Ragan. He said the deal will allow for innovation and enhanced engagement with fans. He also mentioned the global appeal of PokerStars and that the F1 fan base has a lot of similar traits to the operator’s community.

F1 and betting companies

This is not the first partnership involving F1 and a gambling company in recent months. In May, Entain brands partypoker and PartyCasino signed a partnership agreement with the McLaren F1 team.

The relationship between F1 and ISG dates back a number of years. ISG originally entered into a five-year partnership with F1 in 2018 in a deal worth an estimated $100m. As part of their agreement, ISG can sub-license betting partnership rights to betting companies. This allows the brands to get access to regionalized signage, graphics, and digital integrations.

ISG worked with leading sports data and analytics company Sportradar in launching Live Odds in 2019. This is an offering that utilizes historical and exclusive F1 data to provide odds models for pre-race and live betting markets.

In March 2020, ISG brokered a deal in Asia between the online betting brand 188Bet and F1. Through this arrangement, the betting operator’s branding is shown trackside during broadcast races in Asia. The relationship also includes other types of integrations and activations across the F1 social and digital platforms.