The Las Vegas Lights soccer club has teamed up with UK bookmaker William Hill – the first US sports team to announce an official betting partner.
The deal allows William Hill to promote its Nevada mobile betting platform to United Soccer League fans, offering a pre-match menu and continuous live InPlay odds when the Lights FC take the pitch.
Las Vegas Lights fans will be able to activate their mobile sports account at William Hill syndicated sports betting properties across Nevada. William Hill operates more than 100 sports book locations and a wagering app.
“We want to be the first team in North America to go to the top of the mountain and scream to our fans to take out their phones and bet on the game happening right in front of their eyes,” Lights owner Brett Lashbrook told LVSportsBiz.com.
US teams are “clamouring” for sponsorship deals as legal sports betting takes off in the US, William Hill’s US chief executive Joseph Asher said this week.
In May, a US Supreme Court ruling opened the door to legal sports book wagering. US sports betting is expected to expand nationwide as states gear up to regulate and tax the activity.
On Thursday, William Hill accepted New Jersey’s first legal sports wagers, officially opening its sports book at Monmouth Park Racetrack.
