UK’s Football League signs Coral as new betting partner

Having recently redeveloped its sports betting website, Gala Coral’s online betting brand Coral.co.uk has signed a three-year deal to become the official betting and gaming partner of the Football League, the national membership organisation for 72 football clubs in the UK.

Under the three-year deal which begins on July 1st 2010, Coral will also become the official online betting and gaming partner of FL Interactive (FLi), the digital arm of the Football League which manages and develops the online and mobile rights for 82 clubs from the Football League and Premier League.

Through the deal with FLi, Coral will be able to provide customers with access to bets through their team’s own website, while the company will also benefit from significant advertising exposure at the Football League’s Final events.

“At Coral we celebrate football almost every day. Becoming the official betting and gaming partner of the Football League provides a great opportunity for us to demonstrate our commitment to the game and help bring that passion alive for fans across the UK through our 1,600 shops,” said Chris Edgington, Group Marketing Director of Gala Coral Group. “Having just rebuilt and re-launched coral.co.uk to offer our customers an enhanced online betting experience, the timing of this partnership is perfect.”

The Football League consists of 72 professional football clubs in England and Wales which are grouped into three divisions – the Football League Championship, Football League One, and Football League Two – and also organises two knockout cup competitions – the Football League Cup and the Football League trophy.

“I’m delighted to welcome Coral as our new official betting and gaming partner,” said Stewart Thomson, Commercial Director for the Football League. “Our network of club websites generate more than 56m page impressions every month, which offers a great opportunity for Coral. I’m looking forward to working with them over the next three seasons.”

In the first of a series of planned developments, Coral said this week that it has redeveloped its sports betting website to offer its customers an enhanced online betting experience including bet-in-play features. The company also plans to launch further enhancements including the introduction of mini games such as roulette and slots, prior to the start of the World Cup next week.

Source: gamingintelligencegroup