PokerStars announced a partnership with Formula 1. The partnership fell into place courtesy of the Interregional Sports Group. This is a virtual advertising guru placed with the responsibility of being a data rights and sponsorship partner for the F1.
The deal with Formula 1 will see PokerStars become the official betting partner for the motorsports championship. This deal with the Flutter Entertainment-owned operator will run until 2023. Interregional Sports Group (ISG) will facilitate the partnership since it’s the F1 data rights and sponsorship partner.
Both companies will look to engage European audiences through broadcasts. This will be through the virtual PokerStars trackside advertisements during the race weekends. PokerStars is one of the top online poker operators worldwide. The brand operates via the Stars Group. This company merged with Flutter Entertainment in 2020. PokerStars also features an online sportsbook and online casino.
Group Marketing Director at PokerStars, Tom Warren spoke on the partnership with Formula 1. He said working with F1 offers the company a chance to expand its reach to a wider sports fan base beyond motorsport. The prospect of engaging such a sizable audience while remaining focused on key regions for the brand is remarkable.
ISG joint chief executive, Tony Ragan also spoke on the newest deal. The official expressed the company’s delight at the partnership with Flutter Group. He also said the partnership allows for innovation as well as engagement with their fans. Tony Ragan concluded by touching on the global appeal the PokerStars brand enjoys as well as the F1 fan base. Both brands have similar characteristics to the PokerStars community.
The Formula 1 partnership with PokerStars is not the first of its kind with betting companies. Entain’s brands PartyCasino and PartyPoker closed a deal with the McLaren team.
Then there’s the relationship between ISG and Formula 1. This partnership goes back several years. ISG closed a deal with Formula 1 in 2018 at a cost of $100 million. The deal was set to run for five years. One of the clauses in the deal allowed ISG to sub-license betting partnership rights to various betting companies.
This gives the betting brands exclusive rights to on-screen graphics regional branding. It also gives them virtual and trackside signage as well as digital integration across Formula 1’s social and digital platforms.
ISG also worked with Sportradar in 2019 to launch Live Odds. Sportradar is a sports data and analytics company. The Live Odds provides odds frameworks for live and pre-race betting markets. It uses exclusive data from Formula 1 as well as historical data about the championship.
ISG also engineered a deal between the F1 and 188Bet in Asia last year in March. 188Bet is an online betting brand with a target market in Asia. The partnership allowed the operator to showcase its branding on the trackside during broadcasted races. This deal also included other integrations as well as the activation on F1’s digital and social platforms.