Australia’s leading diversified gambling entertainment group, Tabcorp Holdings Limited (ASX:TAH), has entered into a new wagering partnership with the National Football League (NFL).

The Melbourne-headquartered gambling company announced the multi-year agreement that will see it become the NFL’s Official Wagering Partner in what is the largest country in Oceania.

“Our goal is to support the growing appetite for the NFL in Australia.”

According to the company’s official news release…

…the ground-breaking partnership will enable Tabcorp (TAB) to “create unique NFL content and experiences for Australian fans across its digital platforms and venues” and  combines its status as the country’s biggest multi-channel wagering brand with the professional American football league’s position as the “premier global sporting brand.”

Partnership details:

TAB and the NFL will additionally meld to promote the league’s official Pick’em free-to-play football game, via the Nflpickem.com.au domain, which will give fans in Australia the opportunity to win weekly prizes.

A grand prize trip to the Pro Bowl, which for the fourth consecutive year will see the AFC battle the NFC at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida on Jan. 26, 2020, will also be up for grabs.

Additional terms of the partnership deal include Tabcorp and satellite television channel, Sky Channel, streaming NFL Network and (six hours) NFL RedZone programming along with one NFL game per week to its commercial network of over 4,400 clubs, pubs and TAB agencies.

Support NFL popularity:

Commenting on the recent tie-up, Managing Director Wagering & Media for Tabcorp, Adam Rytenskild, said…

“We are proud to bring Australians NFL action to enhance our existing sports offering to customers and venues and complement Sky’s unrivalled coverage of Australian and international racing. Our goal is to support the growing appetite for the NFL in Australia. This gives fans more value in line with our strategy of using our assets to create unique experiences for customers.”

For its part, NFL Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy & Growth Officer, Christopher Halpin, said that they [NFL] look forward to working with Australia’s leading operator.

“We are excited about our growing popularity in Australia and this partnership will help further serve our fans there,” said Halpin.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed in the Wednesday news release.

AGA sports betting survey:

According to a new survey recently released by the American Gaming Association (AGA), 38,000,000 American adults, 15% of the adult population in the U.S., plan to wager on NFL games this season. And that American sports bettors have legally wagered more than $10 billion since last year’s invalidation of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which had largely limited sports wagering to land-based casinos in Nevada.

Legal sports betting has grown exponentially since PASPA and after decades of the NFL’s longstanding antiquated public stance on sports betting and that legalization would compromise the integrity of the game, the league has embraced gambling.

Marketing spend:

Just days before the NFL concluded its 99th season, American sponsorship consulting and valuation firm, IEG,  announced that marketing spend on last season’s edition of the NFL increased by some 5.1 percent year-on-year to reach $1.39 billion thanks in part to an increase in the value of deals the sport inked with firms involved in casinos and sportsbetting.

NFL sponsorship deals:

In January, the NFL inked a historic agreement with Caesars Entertainment, naming it its first ‘official casino sponsor.’ The gaming and hospitality corporation founded in 1937 has relationships with seven NFL Clubs, including the Oakland Raiders (soon to be the Las Vegas Raiders), Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles,  New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts, Chicago Bears and the Baltimore Ravens. How’s that for embracing?

Meanwhile, last month, Gateway Casinos & Entertainment Ltd. announced a new multi-year sponsorship agreement making it the Official Casino Partner of the NFL in Canada. The Burnaby-headquartered gaming and entertainment company operates 27 gaming properties in British Columbia, Ontario and Edmonton, Alberta.