bet365 Strengthens Ohio Presence, Announces Partnership with Cleveland Guardians

Less than two weeks after the legal sports betting launch in Ohio, bet365 strikes a deal with one of the state's two MLB franchises — not only boosting its spot in-state, but continuing the sports betting site's early-year U.S. expansion.

Jan 13, 2023 • 08:39 ET • 4 min read
Emmanuel Clase Cleveland Guardians MLB
Photo By - USA TODAY Sports

Less than two weeks into the legal sports betting launch in the Buckeye State, one of the state’s MLB teams have teamed up with a big-time brand. 

The Cleveland Guardians announced on Wednesday a new multi-year partnership with bet365, further boosting it's Ohio sports betting presence. 

"We’re very excited to work with bet365 as our exclusive mobile sports betting partner and welcome them to the State of Ohio," said Ted Baugh, the Guardians’ vice president of corporate and premium partnerships. "There is a tremendous bond between our organization and bet365. With nearly 90 million customers registered worldwide, bet365 is one of the world’s leaders in online gambling and will provide our fans a trusted source to complement our organization’s success on and off the field." 

The partnership with the online sports betting site comes on the heels of the Guardians winning the AL Central championship in 2022. Cleveland fans will get their first taste of the new deal at the team’s "Guards Fest" on Jan. 21 with a bet365 lounge for those aged 21+. 

"We can’t wait to engage with Guards fans at Guards Fest," a spokesperson for bet365 said. "The Guardians are an elite franchise, with a passionate and loyal fanbase, and we’re excited to create fan-focused activations that give back to the faithful Cleveland baseball fans."  

The Guardians join the NBA's San Antonio Spurs as professional teams in the U.S. that have partnered with bet365.

An attractive state

Ohio became the third official U.S. state of operations for the U.K.-based sportsbook, joining New Jersey and Colorado, and bet365 also recently announced that it has market access to Pennsylvania. It is one of 16 sportsbooks to launch in the heavily-populated state, which is expected to be big business for sports betting.

There’s plenty of competition from the likes of DraftKings, FanDuel, Caesars, and other standard names, but there should be plenty of pieces of pie to go around: Monitoring tech company GeoComply registered 11.3 million geolocation transactions with mobile sportsbooks in Ohio after just the first couple of days following the statewide launch — with nearly 800,000 unique accounts created within the state. 

This deal is not the first for the Guardians, either — they already had a partnership with (yet to be launched) BetFanatics, and it’s just the latest agreement from a professional team in the state. 

The Cleveland Cavaliers have teamed with FanDuel, Betway, and Caesars. The Cleveland Browns are partnered with Bally Bet. The Cincinnati Reds have similar relationships with BetMGM and WynnBET, while the Columbus Blue Jackets are also aligned with BetFanatics. 

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