PointsBet and the University of Maryland have agreed to a partnership, the two parties announced Wednesday, brining together another major collegiate athletic department and an American sports betting operator.
The deal will bring fan-facing, in-game and campus promotions in and around Maryland’s XFINITY Center (home of its men’s and women’s basketball teams) as well as Capital One Field at Maryland Stadium, which hosts the schools home football games. This is the first such deal with a sportsbook and a member of the Big Ten Conference and the third such agreement between a sports betting company and a Power Five athletic program, following a similar PointsBet deal with the University of Colorado and a Caesars partnership with LSU.
In addition to in-arena activations and commercial assets, PointsBet will be featured across Maryland’s digital channels and sports radio network broadcasts. The partnership also includes providing responsible and problem gambling education to Maryland staff, students, as well as a philanthropic component, the two groups said in a press release.
“Investing in the University of Maryland athletics program expands our ability to impact local communities and the greater DMV region while also connecting PointsBet with alumni that remain actively involved in reverence to their alma mater,” said PointsBet USA CEO Johnny Aitken in a statement. “Sports betting education and safe gambling is key to our long-term strategy, as is making a tangible impact on the communities we invest in. We are proud to work with such a high-profile, storied university to further these objectives.”
Such partnerships have been controversial, as they tie a sportsbook with ostensibly armature athletes and on-campus promotions at a school where many of the students are legally unable to bet. PointsBet said in a statement announcing the deal that the partnership with Maryland Athletics will “emphasize and create awareness around responsible gambling and sports betting education.”
“With the announcement of our partnership with PointsBet through Maryland Sports Properties and Playfly Sports, we are looking forward to raising awareness and educating our student-athlete and University community about responsible gambling,” said Brian Ullmann, Maryland Executive Associate Athletic Director and Chief Strategy Officer, in a statement. “Maryland Athletics continues to lead boldly with the first deal of its kind in the Big Ten Conference and in the region.”
PointsBet gained Maryland market access through an agreement with the Riverboat on the Potomac, a licensed satellite simulcast facility for horseracing located in Charles County, Maryland along the Virginia border. PointsBet is expected to earn its retail sportsbook licenses as early as Wednesday and could take its first in-person bets in early 2022.
The company also expects to earn an online license in Maryland, but must go through a separate regulatory approval process. Maryland regulators don’t expect statewide mobile wagering, which makes up the lion’s share of overall sports betting revenues, to begin until sometime in late 2022 or possibly 2023.
PointsBet now accepts sports bets in Colorado, New Jersey, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, and West Virginia. The Australian-based company has or is still pursuing licenses in multiple other states as well as Ontario.
