Mexican sportsbook operator Upick made history last week after becoming the first bookmaker from the country to sign a sponsorship deal with a franchise from the National Hockey League (NHL).
Branding Rights
Upick entered into a partnership deal with Vegas Golden Knights to ensure presence of its brand on the central screen at the T-Mobile Arena where the Knights play their home games in the professional league. The sponsorship deal also includes branding on the team’s website, social media channels, and official app.
Part of the Xoy Capital Group, Mexican sports betting operator Upick is a rising star in the country, having reached traffic of 4,500 users just 3 months after its official launch, and according to its owner Carlos Lazo, the sportsbook is seeing potential in the growing number of young people aged between 18 and 24 with genuine interest in the games from the NHL.
“Our strategy is to take advantage of the growing demand to watch and bet on this sport. But also, we’ve seen here in Mexico more and more bettors and this is reflected in the metrics, we see it on the users who register on our platform.”
Carlos Lazo, Owner, Upick
NHL’s Popularity Growing
The sporting product of the NHL is also growing its popularity in Europe, and the NHL signed licensing partnership deal with Czech betting group Tipsport, to allow the sportsbook to serve as its official betting partner and utilize the brand and official matchday data.
Lazo described the market in Mexico as highly diversified, an opportunity for the company to offer products to a wide range of consumer profiles and make the operator even more attractive.
“We have a registry of all sports betting clients from Mexico, most of them are young experts who not only participate in sports like football, but also a growing population of American football, baseball, basketball, motorsports, hockey, boxing, rugby, tennis and cycling.”
Carlos Lazo, Owner, Upick
Upick confirmed in a statement that the deal is subject to evaluation by its end and if the Knights sporting results meet certain targets, the sponsorship agreement could be renewed.
In their first game after the new sponsorship deal was struck, Vegas Golden Knights came twice from behind following a relatively slow start against Los Angeles Kings, to nick the game in the final frame 4-3, extend their winning streak, and register their 6th win at T-Mobile Arena in the Honda West NHL Division.