Caesars Entertainment becomes founding partner of Las Vegas Stadium

Caesars Entertainment Corporation (NASDAQ: CZR) announced Thursday that it had inked a landmark 15-Year partnership with Las Vegas Stadium, securing sponsorship rights with the -soon to be- Las Vegas Raiders when the team relocates from Oakland, California in 2020.

“The Raiders are proud to welcome Caesars Entertainment as a founding partner of Las Vegas Stadium,” Raiders President Marc Badain said in a statement released on Thursday. “We are honored to align with a company that shares the Raiders’ values of improving the local community and delivering exceptional customer service in creating this transformative project.”

Select customer perks:

The Raiders first deal with a gaming company, the historic partnership with the member club of the National Football League’s (NFL) American Football Conference West division will provide “select customers” of Caesars Entertainment and Total Rewards members a variety of perks including access to:

• customized Caesars-branded Owners Suite at the 50-yard line of the Las Vegas stadium
• training facility events
•  VIP Dinners on the field
• stadium tours
• fantasy camp participation
• tickets to home games and most stadium events.

Caesars essential part of the game:

Chief Marketing Officer for Caesars Entertainment Corporation, Chris Holdren, said, “Sports have long been a core part of the Caesars’ experience. With this deep partnership, Caesars will become an essential part of the game time ritual for Raiders fans everywhere. From activations to exclusive experiences, fans of the silver and black will see Caesars as their home on game day.”

Owners approve move:

In March last year at the annual league meeting in Phoenix, a 31-1 vote by NFL owners approved the Raiders relocation to Las Vegas after 45 seasons in the Bay Area. The city of Oakland wanted to keep the team, which has been based in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area since 1960, only relocating to Los Angeles from Oakland in 1982, and then returning in 1995. However, a last-ditch effort by the city’s mayor, Libby Schaaf, and particularly because of a $750 million public subsidy from Las Vegas toward the new stadium, was too little too late.

Baltimore Ravens deal:

Courtesy of the partnership, Caesars will earn branded stadium entrances, media, radio and print assets, digital signage, as well as alumni, player and cheerleader appearances. The Raiders aren’t the gaming giant’s first NFL partnership, however, as the company via its Horseshoe Casino Baltimore inked a multi-year marketing deal last month with another NFL team, the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens deal is Maryland’s only partnership between an NFL team and a casino.

PASPA serves as catalyst:

Just months after the Supreme Court overturned a U.S. ban on states accepting bets on professional and college sports, early in September, Brian Rolapp, President and Chief Executive Officer of NFL Network and Executive Vice President of Media for the National Football League, revealed that the league’s longstanding ban against casino advertising would be lifted enabling land-based casino operators the opportunity to sponsor its team franchises during NFL 2018/19 games.

Dallas Cowboys led the charge:

The Dallas Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones were the first NFL team to take advantage of the new lucrative sponsorship opportunity and just days after the announcement by Rolapp named the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma-owned and operated casino and resort in Thackerville, Oklahoma the official casino of the team.

Churches rally against proposed casino for Bristol

In September, developers announced a proposal to create the Bristol Resort and Casino in Bristol, Virginia, a new venue set to be located on a 49-acre site where the Bristol Mall site has been empty since late 2017. The plans are ambitious and would bring employment as well as revenues to the region, however, church groups are not happy with the thought of gambling in their area.

Weekend Protest Rally:

On Sunday night, hundreds of individuals gathered in the Cumberland Square Park to rally against the casino proposal. Leading the charge were churches from the Tri-Cities including the Belle Meadows Baptist Church, the Fellowship Chapel Parkway Baptist Worship Center, Tennessee Avenue Baptist Church and the Victory Baptist Church.

According to the Heraldcourier.com…

The pastors from the churches spoke during the protest, stating that a casino gaming venue would bring ‘evil’ to the city and the region, creating a negative effect on the economy. However, the developers see it differently.

Clyde Stacy and Jim McGlothlin have plans to create the resort casino, which will be home to a gaming venue as well as a hotel and conference center. The project would create around 2,000 employment positions in the beginning and then increase to over 5,000 within a seven-year time frame.

Necessary Approvals:

Last month, the City Council and the city’s school board voted to approve the plan, showing their support for the project. While the support is a positive for the proposal, the decision remains within the hands of the Virginia General Assembly. Before any development can take place, the Assembly will need to legalize casino gambling in 2019.

Scientific Games Corporation purchasing Don Best Sports Corporation

A little over two weeks after joining the Global Lottery Monitoring System and American gaming machine and systems innovator Scientific Games Corporation has announced the signing of a deal that is to see it purchase Don Best Sports Corporation along with its DBS Canada Corporation subordinate.

Acquisitions to bring ‘powerful new capabilities’:

The Las Vegas-based innovator used an official press release (pdf) to declare that it expects to finalize the acquisitions of the real-time betting data and North American sporting events pricing suppliers before the end of the year subject to the ‘customary conditions to closing’ to give its business-to-business sportsbook offerings ‘powerful new capabilities’.

Entities to become part of SG Digital:

Barry Cottle, President and Chief Executive Officer for Scientific Games Corporation, described Don Best Sports Corporation as ‘a trusted provider and recognized industry brand’ that has more than 20 years of experience determining betting lines, tracking sportsbook operators and providing tailored content solutions. He stated that the Nevada supplier and its Canadian subsidiary are to become part of his firm’s SG Digital division post-acquisition and combine their trading platforms and expertise with this subordinate’s own OpenBet platform.

Cottle’s statement read…

“When it comes to sportsbetting, we’ve been moving at incredible speed and the Don Best [Sports Corporation] acquisition will add to our unrivalled business-to-business one-stop-shop sportsbetting solution, [which is] already live in Delaware, New Jersey and Mississippi.”

Global expansion enhanced:

Cottle furthermore proclaimed that the purchases are set to allow SG Digital to expand globally by combining ‘top-tier European sportsbook-operating experience’ with the ‘leading United States sports trading, data and pricing platform’. He detailed that this will involve the team from Don Best Sports Corporation ‘smoothly combining day-to-day sportsbook logistics with state-of-the-art trading technology’.

Cottle’s statement read…

“As the leading global supplier of real-time betting data and pricing for the North American sports market, Don Best [Sports Corporation] will bring its unparalleled proprietary pricing services to Scientific Games [Corporation]. As sportsbetting rapidly gains popularity in the United States, we’re ready to help our customers capitalize on the new United States market while solidifying our long-held leading global position.”

Deal ‘a true win-win’:

For his part, Keith O’Loughlin, Sportsbook Senior Vice-President for SG Digital, described the pending acquisition as ‘a huge win for us and all of our stakeholders’ as Don Best Sports Corporation will be able ‘to hit the ground running’ and guide his firm’s customers ‘through the process of launching a sportsbook after the deal closes’.

O’Loughlin’s statement read…

“Moreover, upon completion of the acquisition, our customers will immediately benefit from its expertise and firm grip on real-time trading and the data that drives it. With Don Best [Sports Corporation’s] talented employee base on board, we’ll use our global platforms and services to harness customer input and tailor our technology locally to meet their needs. This opportunity will enhance our market position in the United States while ramping up our partner relationships in more tested jurisdictions. It’s a true win-win.”