You've probably heard of sports ambassadors and sportsbook sponsorships. However, one of the current trends in the gambling industry is sponsorships offered to rugby teams by online casinos.
Gambling companies, in general, are making smart moves and collaborating with famous athletes to get to their goals. And while it isn't the norm to see a famous athlete on an online sportsbook advertisement, more and more online casinos make similar deals with athletes.
The main reason for that might be the fact that many online gambling brands offer both sports betting and casino games. However, there are multiple other reasons why this is happening. Stay tuned to discover more about it.
Expanding the Audience Reach and Brand Awareness
So, why are the majority of gambling companies putting all that effort to strike a deal with rugby players? One of the reasons is definitely the overall audience reach they can get through a famous player. Rugby is the number one sport in the New Zealand, Tonga, Georgia, Wales, Samoa, Fiji. And there are rugby fans all across the globe.
There are millions of people out there supporting their favourite rugby teams, and this seems like 101 marketing. Working on brand awareness is really important, especially with all the competition in the online gambling world. So, by securing sponsorship, the players will benefit financially from wearing sponsored equipment, being on website banners, and more.
If you have ever seen a casino logo or sportsbook on a rugby player's shirt, you know it is a sponsorship. Some marketing experts believe that shirt sponsorship has transformative power in putting the brand on the map. This type of advertisement helps the brand improve their recah. So, the more popular the club, the better audience reach that gambling companies achieve.
Reaching the Target Audience
The collaboration between the rugby players or teams and gambling companies seems pretty evident from the gambling companies' standpoint. Both sides will probably manage to get a lot from such a deal, but the casino brand can use this sponsorship to reach their target audience.
When you think about it, 90 % of the rugby audience are men anywhere between 20 and 60 years old who love sports and adrenaline. This is precisely the kind of audience any online casino with free bonus and no deposit is targeting. In the majority of cases, casino players are men of basically any age, and rugby teams or players' sponsorships can help those players opt for that precise operator when playing online. Or it can even motivate them to start gambling.
The popularity of sports betting in the UK, Europe, and now the US since the lift of the federal ban on sports betting in 2018, is growing. Online sportsbooks are thriving, and new ones are emerging almost every day. The popularity tuned online sportsbooks into a lucrative business, and they started offering more and more sports sponsorships – in particular, rugby sponsorships.
And the rugby players and clubs are motivated to strike a deal with some top-rated gambling companies. All in all, there are mutual benefits for both sides.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Casino and sportsbook companies usually engage in community projects. This way, they are giving a share of their revenue to the community. They can also do this by giving back to the local communities of the teams they sponsor. There's not much to say about the apparent benefits of such sponsorships for this matter. They attract tax incentives from respective governments, and all the sides benefit from this partnership.
Final Thoughts
Over the past few years, many new casino and sportsbook operators emerged and are trying to claim their spot on the gambling market. They started working on multiple advertising strategies and incorporated rugby sponsorships as one of the most effective ones. The alliance between the two sides brings mutual benefits to both rugby teams and gambling companies. So, it is no wonder that such sponsorships have become the newest trend in the industry.
