The National Hockey League’s (NHL) Washington Capitals have announced that Caesars Sportsbook will be the team’s first jersey sponsor.
According to the announcement, this marks the first team-announced agreement in the NHL’s Jersey Advertising Program.
Caesars deal with the Capitals
Last week Thursday, Caesars announced a multi-year partnership agreement today that places the Caesars Sportsbook logo on Capitals home and third jerseys worn for games played at Capital One Arena beginning with the 2022-23 NHL season.
Under the agreement, the Caesars Sportsbook logo will appear on the team’s home and third jerseys with a 3 x 3.5-inch patch located on the upper right chest area of the jersey.
The deal follows the opening of the Caesars-owned William Hill sportsbook facility at the Capital One Arena back in May.
The deal will also see Caesars and Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) expand their partnership with additional Casino, Gaming and Caesars Rewards programming elements.
Chris Holdren, Co-President of Caesars Digital. Said: “Being woven into the Washington Capitals jersey is an exciting chapter in our collective story. Like Monumental Sports & Entertainment, we love blazing trails and we are always looking for innovative opportunities that drive engagement and storytelling for fans. We are proud to extend our historic partnership with such a storied franchise after launching the sportsbook at Capital One Arena.”
MSE president of business operations and chief commercial officer Jim Van Stone said: “Following the successful launch of Caesars Sportsbook adjacent to Capital One Arena last spring, we are thrilled to introduce Caesars Sportsbook as the Capitals’ inaugural home jersey advertising partner in a first-of-its-kind announced partnership in the NHL.
“Together as two industry leaders, we’ve built a robust partnership in the gaming and casino space, and our overall relationship reflects our shared commitment to providing sports fans with world-class, unique experiences. MSE, the Capitals and Caesars share a commitment and passion toward innovation in the sports and entertainment space, and the opportunity to incorporate Caesars onto Capitals home jerseys is a wonderful development and exciting new fan engagement opportunity for both organizations in the nation’s capital.”
The NHL’s Jersey Advertising Program begins with the 2022-23 NHL season and allows up to two jersey sponsors per team when separate sponsors appear on home and away jerseys. The Capitals will announce an away jersey sponsor at a later date.
Sports betting in DC
For the month of July, DC’s sports betting revenue fell 10% month-on-month to $1.8m after sports betting handle in the nation’s capital fell 34.4%.
Revenue from Caesars Entertainment-owned William Hill, the DC Lottery’s Gambet, and BetMGM were down from $2m in June. Meanwhile, the total sports betting handle was down from $19.5m to $12.8m.
Earlier this month, an audit conducted by the Office of the District of Columbia Auditor (ODCA) concluded that the DC Lottery’s GamBet sportsbook product has failed to meet expectations.
The ODCA suggested that improving the betting odds and increasing payouts to players would be beneficial. The audit also said that lowering the revenue margin could help incentivize more sports wagers.
The audit also suggested allowing more privately owned sportsbooks to enter the market and increasing the tax revenue on gaming revenue which currently sits at 10%.