Austin FC strikes deal with online gambling operator PointsBet

As sports gambling rapidly becomes legal in states across the country, Austin FC made a move Wednesday that might be preparing for the future.

The club announced an agreement with PointsBet, a global online gambling operator based in Australia with a U.S. headquarters in Colorado — one of the more than 20 states where betting on sports is legal — as one of its main advertising partners, or what the club refers to as Founding Partners.

“For us this is an emerging category in sports sponsorship,” Austin FC President Andy Loughnane said. “It’s a pretty white-hot state. We’ve been having conversations with players in the space, and the timing is fortunate. We’ve had a number of opportunities, and this is a matter of aligning with the right partner.”

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What the PointsBet agreement means for Austin FC

The partnership will be most noticeable on the team’s broadcasts, on digital platforms and at Q2 Stadium, where the bar on the second level is now the PointsBet Sports Bar.

Gambling companies have long been involved in sponsorship deals with soccer clubs in Europe and have increasingly entered the U.S. sports landscape in recent years, including in Texas. The Texas Rangers, Houston Rockets and Houston Texans all have advertising agreements with either a casino or an online gambling company, but this will be the first MLS gambling partnership in Texas.

“Austin has emerged as a strong major league sports market, and Texas has one of the best economies in the world,” Loughnane said. “So it’s a strong move (for PointsBet) to connect their brand with Texas residents, a tech-forward team and a tech-forward market.”

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PointsBet is already affiliated with the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche and even the University of Colorado athletic department. It has exclusive gambling sponsorship rights with NBC. 

Though online sports betting is not legal in Texas, PointsBet just launched a free-to-play “Lone Star Pick ’Em” this week that is available to Texas residents.

In an industry that is likely to explode across the country in the next decade, it makes sense for El Tree not to miss out.

“It was a logical conclusion to align with PointsBet,” Loughnane said.