SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Unibet has partnered with Dutch cycling team Tour de Tietema, becoming its main sponsor and therefore rebranding it as the TDT-Unibet Cycling Team.
From January 2023, the Kindred-owned operator will work with the team in the aim of inspiring sports enthusiasts to start cycling themselves.
“We are extremely proud to work together with Tour de Tietema,” commented Lennart Kessels, General Manager of Kindred Group in the Netherlands. “Their dedication combined with their boldness to do things differently is a big inspiration.
“It’s an honour to help make their long-lived dream to start a cycling team a reality. Besides, the cycling world is not new to us as Unibet previously sponsored a cycling team back in 2006 and 2007. We are therefore convinced that we can fuel the ambitions of this new cycling team.”
Increasing social engagement through partnerships and active sponsorships is key to the local CSR programme ‘Unibet Impact’, which is launched in the Netherlands and dedicated to foster a safer and more responsible online gambling industry.
The new team has outlined that it will start on the continental level but has the ambition to achieve the ProTeam status in the future.
Bas Tietema, founder of Tour de Tietema, added: “We are delighted to have Unibet as our main sponsor. With Unibet, we have found a partner who has great confidence in our vision and supports us in our dream of turning the cycling world upside down with an innovative approach.
“In addition, Unibet allows us to keep our own TDT brand identity which is unique in the cycling world. With the TDT-Unibet Cycling Team, we hope to show sports enthusiasts the beauty of cycling sports. We are excited to start our journey with Unibet and for the future ahead.”
In July, economy and business newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad (FD) claimed that sports sponsorship for online games of chance along with ‘untargeted advertising’ will be prohibited by the end of 2025 in the Netherlands.
The country’s Minister for Legal Protection, Franc Weerwind, reportedly said: “Advertising is a means to lead people to the legal offer, but the importance of addiction prevention outweighs. With this I want to protect especially vulnerable groups such as young people.”
