Bally’s Pro Volleyball Deal Continues Sports Betting Trend

Bally’s announced Tuesday that it had acquired Newport Beach, California-based Association of Volleyball Professionals, the premier professional beach volleyball organization and host of the longest-running domestic beach volleyball tour in the U.S.

This is the latest step in Bally's growth and diversification strategy, providing a significant opportunity for the company to gamify and incorporate interactive content into beach volleyball to drive traffic to Bally's platforms and promote customer acquisition. It's also the latest move from gaming companies looking for untapped alliances in the ever-growing U.S. online sports betting sites market.

Bally’s currently owns and manages 14 casinos across 10 states, a horse racetrack in Colorado and has access to online sports betting licenses in 14 states.

What’s In The Deal

In the deal, Bally’s has acquired all AVP's assets, including trademarks, AVP America promoter agreements and associated recurring membership revenue, digital photo and video assets, and all proprietary tournament and league management software.

“Forming a new relationship with a trusted, forward-thinking partner like Bally's offers the opportunity to develop a strategic roadmap that will grow the sport, expand its footprint and provide new resources to better elevate the game and its athletes,” Donald Sun, former owner and CEO of AVP, said in a news release. “I look forward to being an integral part of the transition, focusing on the best interests of all AVP athletes, fans, staff and partners.”

Bally’s will plan to leverage AVP’s distribution channels, as well as the Sinclair-owned “Bally Sports” Regional Sports Networks, to increase consumer engagement and promote the league.

“The AVP is an attractive asset that complements our rapidly expanding U.S. sports betting vision," Bally's Strategy and Interactive SVP Adi Dhandhania said in a news release. "Donald (Sun) and the entire AVP team have done a tremendous job developing the league and transforming it into what it is today, and we look forward to exploring creative ways to amplify and gamify such a dynamic and high-growth sport, providing beach volleyball fans across the nation with unique and interactive content."

The 2021 AVP Pro Tour tips off its short three-event season with the Atlanta Open on Aug. 13-15, with the tour planning to resume with a full season in 2022.

In addition to casinos, Bally’s owns Bet.Works, a sports betting platform; Monkey Knife Fight, a daily fantasy sports site, and SportCaller, a leading global business-to-business free-to-play game provider.

More League Partnerships

This isn't the first time a sports association has aligned itself with a gaming company. Just this week, DraftKings and Major League Baseball announced “Bet & Watch”, a streaming integration where fans with open and active MLB.com and DraftKings accounts will be able to watch a free, live MLB game within the DraftKings app.

DraftKings Sportsbook and MLB plan to collaborate on future sports betting-themed game broadcast experiences that will live within the MLB.TV product.

On July 4, DraftKings joined with Major League Eating as an official sponsor of Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest for the second straight year.

In June, the professional tour for pickleball for men and women announced a long-term partnership with Genius Sports.

That agreement set the stage for regulated sports betting on PPA events for the first time. Genius Sports was given exclusive rights to capture and distribute live data and video broadcasts from more than 1,200 PPA matches per year with its global network of over 150 sportsbook partners.

It was the just the most-recent partnership for Genius. The company teamed up with the Premier Lacrosse League in May 2020.

That deal addressed the PLL's desire to offer real-time betting markets to enhance the in-game fan experience. Sportsbooks will be provided with the fastest, most accurate and reliable data on the upcoming PLL Championship Series and future PLL events, expanding lacrosse’s global reach and audience.

In June 2020, FOX Bet partnered with the Pro Bowlers Association when fans weren't allowed to attend the tournaments because of the pandemic as a way to draw them into the broadcast and to better engage.

Tuesday's announcement from Bally's won't be the last as gaming companies look to grow their businesses.