Will college athletes successfully be used to promote sports betting brands?
The roots of that question will at least begin to be explored today, as MaximBet has announced that it will offer a promotional contract to all Division I, II and III women athletes in the state of Colorado to promote their brand.
“We hope as many qualified young women who love playing for their college or university take advantage of this offer and recognize that we support them in everything they do,” said Doug Terfehr, MaximBet’s vice president of brand and communications, in a statement.
In order to be eligible, the athletes must follow MaximBet on their social feeds and agree to post a minimum of six times in four months for $500 compensation.
Of interest is the fact that University of Colorado became the first college program to sign a sports betting deal, scoring a deal with PointsBet worth at least $1.625 million over five years. That deal expressly does not include the school’s athletes.
Previously, Barstool signed hundreds of athletes by giving them free merchandise, but the deal did not include promotion of their sportsbook.
MaximBet is live in Colorado, with imminent plans to be operational in Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Whether athletes can do these deals are dependent on state laws and school bylaws. Texas and Ohio, for example, have stringent laws about not promoting gambling in name, image and likeness, but it’s a moot point because sports betting isn’t yet legal in those states.
