Online bookmaker Betway has entered into a global partnership with Paris Saint Germain’s PSG.LGD, which is a professional eSports team active in the online game Dota 2, according to a press release sent to Business Malta.
Under the six-figure agreement — the exact financing details have not been disclosed — Betway branding will appear on the players’ jerseys and jackets. Betway will also have access to the players for content creation purposes, as well as experiential and social media activities, the press statement says without further clarifying the details.
“Having already had plenty of success with sponsorship in eSports, we are very excited to have signed a new partnership with PSG.LGD. The PSG brand is incredibly strong around the world and their involvement in eSports has already been extremely successful, notably their more recent move into Dota 2 with LGD. The PSG.LGD team has celebrated some early victories on the Dota 2 circuit and we cannot wait to be part of their future success,” said Anthony Werkman, CEO of Betway.
“Betway has always aimed to be at the forefront of the eSports movement, and we look forward to partnering with yet another major player in the space,” he added.
The latest deal expands Betway’s portfolio of eSports partnerships, which currently includes Dota 2 sponsorships with Ninjas in Pyjamas (NIP) and Invictus Gaming, alongside partnerships with NIP’s CS:GO team, as well as BIG and MIBR. Betway also sponsors a number of CS:GO tournaments, including ESL Pro League, Intel Extreme Masters, ESL One and the BLAST Pro Series.
The newly Betway-sponsored team landed two Majors on the 2017-2018 Dota 2 Pro Circuit, which helped them secure a direct invite to The International 2018, where they advanced to the grand finals but lost against OG in game five.
“We are pleased to welcome Betway to the Paris Saint-Germain family as a jersey partner of our eSports team. The partnership between such a globally-recognised brand and our club is yet another sign of the international appeal of the Paris Saint-Germain brand,” said Sébastien Wasels, Managing Director of the Paris Saint-Germain Asia-Pacific office.
“From now on, Betway and Paris Saint-Germain will shine together around the world to the rhythm of our team’s successes, starting with one of the biggest Dota 2 events of the year this summer: The International, which will take place in Shanghai in August,” Mr Wasels added.
“This new partnership confirms our development strategy in the sport. This is the reward for the ambitious project of our PSG.LGD team. With Betway, we will be able to offer more exclusive content for a wide international audience and engage even more with the Dota 2 community,” added Fabien Allègre, Chief Brand Diversification Officer at PSG.
PSG.LGD has been formed as a partnership between French football club Paris Saint-Germain and Chinese eSports organization LGD Gaming in April 2018. The original team was founded in 2009.
The Betway Group is a provider across sports betting, casino, bingo and poker. Launched in 2006, the company operates across a number of regulated online markets and holds licences in the United Kingdom, Malta, Italy, Denmark, Spain, Belgium, Germany and Ireland. Based in Malta and Guernsey, with support from London, Isle of Man, Stockholm and Cape Town, the Betway team comprises over 1,000 people.