NBA In First Euro Gaming Deal
Française des Jeux (FDJ) has been confirmed as the NBA’s first official European gaming partner in a multiyear partnership.
FDJ, the operator of France’s national lottery, will now become the National Basketball Association’s official gaming partner in France, the NBA’s first in Europe.
The deal will allow millions of fans in France to keep up-to-date with the NBA thanks to the sports gaming operators’ ParionsSport platform, uniting NBA followers and Française des Jeux customers across the country.
Across 30 sports, Basketball is the third most popular sport after football and tennis in terms of sports gaming on the ParionsSport online and off-line offering. The NBA is also the second most popular sports league on the platform.
Vandana Balachandar, NBA EME vice president, global partnerships, said: “This collaboration will result in the best possible gaming and entertainment experience for consumers through the use of accurate, official, real-time NBA data and demonstrates our collective efforts to maintain the integrity of our games.”
As part of the partnership, FDJ, one of the top 10 gaming operators in the world, will have access to official NBA data and branding across ParionsSport’s land-based and digital sports gaming offerings throughout France.
Commenting on the partnership, Richard Courtois, FDJ’s head of gaming operations added: “Basketball is one of the most popular sports globally, and as a result of this partnership with the NBA, it will become even more popular and inspirational for our customers.
“Partnering with the NBA will allow ParionsSport to get even closer to the action and offer a more refined gaming experience for gamers, enabling us to reach yet more fans.”
The exclusive partnership is to be promoted in over 27,000 retail locations in France, as well as on ParionsSport and the NBA’s digital assets, which includes NBA.com, the NBA App and NBA France social media platforms.
The NBA is the latest rightsholder to express an increasing interest in betting opportunities within sport.
Its announcement follows Formula One’s unprecedented agreement with Interregional Sports Group (ISG) earlier this year, to produce a first-ever F1 betting service, enabling in-play betting markets during a Grand Prix.
This week also saw the launch of IMG Arena, IMG’s new data collection system which will see the global sports giant expand its sports betting offering, whilst seeking a share of the market place.
