Could Sports Franchises Launch Their Own Sweepstakes Platforms?

Could Sports Franchises Launch Their Own Sweepstakes Platforms?
Alicia Butler
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Alicia Butler
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Updated: October 3rd 2025

We’ve seen a lot of celebrity sponsorships of sweepstakes casinos in the past few years. Household names like Ryan Seacrest, Paris Hilton, and Drake have entered sponsorship deals with sweepstakes casinos like Stake.us, WOW Vegas, and Chumba Casino.

We’ve also seen a lot of sports franchises enter into partnerships with sweepstakes casinos, including Everton Football, the Davis Cup, and F1.

But we have yet to see a sports franchise launch its own sweepstakes casino.

How likely would it be to see a sports franchise launch a sweepstakes casino or social sports prediction site? Let’s look at a few reasons why such franchises might do so – and a few reasons why they’d be unlikely to.

Current Sports Franchise & Casino Partnerships

Many sports franchises have entered into partnerships with real-money casinos and sweepstakes casinos over the past few years. Here are some of the biggest sponsorship deals in the online casino industry right now:

  • Stake F1 Team: Stake

  • Everton Football: Stake

  • Davis Cup: Stake

  • FBC Melgar: Stake

  • Enyimba Football: Stake

  • Buffalo Bills: FanDuel

  • Carolina Panthers: FanDuel

  • Cleveland Browns: FanDuel

  • Denver Broncos: FanDuel

  • Indianapolis Colts: FanDuel

Since so many sports teams and leagues have already entered into partnerships, we can determine that the sports industry sees the potential in partnering with online casinos, including real-money casinos and sweepstakes casinos.

But do these partnerships suggest that sports franchises will make the foray into operating their own sweepstakes platforms? Let’s look at some of the reasons why sports franchises might launch their own sweepstakes casinos and a few reasons why they probably won’t.

Reasons Why Sports Franchises Might Launch Their Own Sweepstakes Casinos

Many Sports Franchises Already Partner With Casinos: Sporting franchises, such as the Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, Denver Broncos, and Indianapolis Colts, already partner with FanDuel, which operates both a sportsbook and an online casino.

Since these partnerships are clearly very lucrative to both FanDuel and the teams, sports franchises could, in turn, realize that there is money to be made in sweepstakes casinos, too.

Sports & Sweepstakes Go Hand-in-Hand: Many sports franchises already partner with sweepstakes casinos, including Everton Football and Davis Cup (both partner with Stake.us). If sports teams believe that there is more money to be made (both with brand recognition and

Many Casinos Sponsor Sports Teams: Online casino brands already sponsor sports teams, which means these behemoths understand the value in cross-promoting sports and gambling.

But just because a casino brand might invest in sports doesn’t mean that a sporting franchise would invest in the launch of an online casino. Let’s look at a few reasons why sports franchises probably wouldn’t launch their own sweepstakes casino in the next section.

Reasons Why Sports Franchises Might Steer Clear of Sweepstakes

No Precedence for the Sports Industry Launching Sweepstakes Casinos: We can generally predict what sweepstakes casinos do based on what real-money casinos do first – not the other way around.

Since we haven’t seen any sports franchise launch a real-money casino, we can safely assume that we probably won’t see one launch a sweepstakes casino, either.

Most Sports Partnerships Are With Sportsbooks: Even though we’ve seen partnerships between sports franchises and casino brands, these sports teams are really partnering with the sportsbook side of the platform – not so much the casino side.

We have yet to see a major partnership between a sports team and an online casino without ties to an online sportsbook. Could we potentially see one in the future? Possibly. Yet, without any precedence, we certainly cannot make any bold claims that suggest we will.

Sports Teams May Focus On Sports: Yes, sports brands quite often cross-promote with other industries (apparel, food, alcohol, etc.), but these are simply marketing deals – not completely new areas of industry for sports teams.

For the most part, sports teams focus on sports (though their marketing and PR departments might cross-promote across different industries). If a sports franchise were so bold as to launch its own sweepstakes casino, we’d be very surprised.

Sweepstakes Casinos Aren’t Legal In Every State: The laws that govern sweepstakes casinos aren’t very cut and dry. Yes, we can verify that a sweepstakes casino is legit, but these sites aren’t licensed and regulated in the same way real-money casinos are in the U.S.

It would be a bit risky for a sportsbook to launch a platform that could be banned in some states in the future.

The Verdict: Will Sports Franchises Launch Their Own Sweepstakes Platforms? 

Since sports franchises have not even made the foray into launching real-money casinos, we doubt that we’ll see any of them launch a sweepstakes casino any time soon.

If a sports franchise wanted to enter the world of online casinos, it would be more likely that a big brand name would try to launch a real-money casino, as there would be more opportunities for brand recognition and cross-promotion.

While the sweepstakes casino industry is very lucrative, most sports franchises wouldn’t want to dilute their brands by investing directly in a platform that isn’t directly related to the sports industry.

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Alicia Butler

Alicia is OddsSeeker's Lead Editor & Fact Checker! She's been reviewing online casinos, sportsbooks, and other gaming since 2021, but has well over a decade of experience writing and editing for some of the largest online magazines and brands since 2011! Over her career, Alicia has worked as a travel and entertainment writer & editor contributing to widely read digital publications such as The Spruce, The Balance and The Spruce Pets, VeryWell, and TripSavvy. Alicia makes sure our readers can trust every word - holding both our team & our gaming operator partners to the highest standard to ensure that our readers always have the best possible experiences playing gaming online! Beyond OddsSeeker, Alicia is a marketing expert, entrepreneur, and avid traveler based in Connecticut!

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