State-owned gambling operator Svenska Spel will partner with the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and Swedish Esports Association (SESF) as sponsor to the 2020 Swedish eHockey Championship, scheduled to kick-off later later this month.

Played on EA Sports’ NHL 20 and organised by the region’s largest eHockey tournament organiser NHLGamer, the championship is in its second year running.

“As the main sponsor of both the Swedish Ice Hockey Association and the Swedish E-sports Association SESF, we are proud to also shoulder the role as the main sponsor of the Swedish Championships in eHockey,” said Svenska Spel project manager sponsorship Jimmy Sandberg. “Working together to marry traditional sports with e-sports is something we believe in.”

The tournament, which runs from August to October, features 1v1 solo and 6v6 team games, with 50% of each team, and all captains, consisting of Swedish players. The finals will be broadcast on Amazon-owned live streaming platform Twitch at the start of October.

“We want to reach new potential target groups with a hockey interest, and together with Svenska Spel increase interest in e-sports. Getting more people to get involved and interested in ice hockey is an important part of the Swedish Ice Hockey Association’s strategy,” said Christer Plars, commercial manager at the Swedish Ice Hockey Association. “Under the current situation, it also feels good to be able to offer more people the opportunity to play ice hockey virtually, it is a good complement while waiting for the big ice hockey tournaments to start again.”