LaLiga expands in South Africa with gambling brand Hollywoodbets

Spanish football’s LaLiga has added South African sports betting company Hollywoodbets to its portfolio of regional sponsors. The deal will run until the end of the current 2019-20 season and makes the Durban-based brand the first betting sponsor to the league in South Africa.

It will grant Hollywoodbets visibility during broadcasts of LaLiga’s via digital overlay technology. Match tickets will also be available for the betting brand to use in its upcoming marketing campaigns. The deal is further evidence of LaLiga’s ongoing strategy international expansion strategy and builds on a presence it has held in South Africa since 2015.

The country is seen as a key strategic market for the organisation and it has looked to support the development of its local football, working with 140 teams in the last year.

LaLiga South Africa managing director, Marcos Pelegrín, explained how the Hollywoodbets association will help develop this and the league’s global presence further.

“Strategic partnerships like these help us to penetrate and expand across new markets. We want to keep growing in the South African market, as we endeavour to increase our fanbase and bring LaLiga even closer to our fans. Further, this partnership allows us to keep working on developing football in Mzansi [South Africa], as we have been doing in various community tournaments in places like Soweto, Port Elizabeth and Polokwane. This has been a shared driver for both brands to partner on, and it is also an important objective for Hollywoodbets,”

The league has already been active in expanding its global influence through sponsorship deals this month, having signed up Chinese mineral water brand Nongfu Spring.

In addition, in December 2019 it signed a Japan-based sponsorship contract with commercial banking group Sony Bank, as well as an innovative association with Indian cricket star Rohit Sharma.

Source: sportbusiness.com