In a League of its own
Following recent sponsorship deals, Centrebet's head of marketing and gaming Luke Brill looks at the marketing opportunities presented by sport in Australia.
Comparisons on the importance of Rugby League to the Eastern seaboard of Australia with the importance of the Premiership in the UK are easily drawn. On both sides of the globe players are caught up in Tabloid stings, Wags appear on celebrity game shows, end of season parties often make headline news for all the wrong reasons and the game inevitably appears on the front page as much as it does on the back. But, like football in the UK, Australian punters Love the NRL (National Rugby League)
Unquestionably the best rugby league in the world is played in Australia with the best players, playing week in week out. Ask an Australian about the Super League and they will tell you players go to Europe at the end of their career to cash in or, in the Joel Monahan case, after they have been disgraced.
Some NRL matches rate top in live televised sport in Australia on both pay TV and free to air. The game is deeply ingrained in Australian culture with hours of programming across all media channels dedicated to every aspect, and importantly to Centrebet it is in the top three first bet destinations of all new punters.
Since deregulation in 2008, betting companies have rapidly increased their presence around the NRL, with every club having some sort of wagering partnership with a betting agency including Centrebet, Sportingbet and Betfair.
These sponsorships have now progressed from banners on websites and EDM’s to LED signage, in-ground announcements, integrated odds in the live TV and radio broadcast and the holy grail on kit branding.
January’s groundbreaking deal by my company Centrebet to rename Penrith’s stadium for the next five years was the first of its kind in Australia and caused a media storm that transcended sport and moved into politics with politicians publically debating in the press if the sponsorship should be sanctioned.
In addition to wagering companies, land based casinos such as Star City casino and Crown Casino have also taken out major sponsorships and both Full Tilt and Pokerstars have now tried to get in on the act with .net advertising. Online poker is of course illegal in Australia so this has raised a few questions at NRL HQ.
For the privilege of being able to advertise and leverage NRL IP, bookmakers pay a product fee that flows back into the game and helps support the infrastructure of the competition, This does not stop the media speculation that wagering companies might one day go the same way as tobacco companies and be banned from sports sponsorship. But with fast food and alcohol companies still heavily involved in this sector, I for one am happy to take that gamble.