SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Sports entertainment company Sorare has announced a four-year digital card partnership with the English Premier League.
The agreement will allow the platform to release collectibles of players from all 20 English top-flight clubs as part of its free-to-play online fantasy football game.
Nicolas Julia, CEO and Co-Founder of Sorare, commented: “The Premier League is a truly global competition and has been the home to so many iconic moments and players over the last 30 years.
“As football fans ourselves, this partnership is something we’ve dreamt of since we founded the business.
“It’s a major milestone for us as we pursue our goal to build a compelling global sports community for fans and we’re extremely proud to have now partnered with three of the biggest sports leagues in the world: the Premier League, NBA and MLB.
“We’re incredibly excited and can’t wait to see fans play with Premier League cards in our tournaments.”
Aiming to provide fans with another way to connect with clubs and players, users can now buy, sell, collect, and build teams with officially licensed digital player cards and compete with their teams in Sorare’s free fantasy football game for rewards.
To mark the new partnership, Sorare has also launched new gameplay features including league-specific competitions, draft-based gameplay and capped-mode competitions.
Richard Masters, Chief Executive of the Premier League, added: “The way that supporters follow their favourite teams and players is evolving and the Premier League is always looking for ways to engage with fans.
“Sorare’s digital cards and innovative online game represent a new way for them to feel closer to the Premier League whether they are watching in the stadium or from around the world.
“We believe that Sorare are the ideal partner for the Premier League and we look forward to working closely together.”
In October 2021, the platform issued a response to the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) placing its blockchain fantasy football platform under investigation.
The organisation issued a warning, alerting the public that Sorare did not maintain a UK gambling licence, but the company asserted that there is no ‘randomised mechanism’ to its player card purchases as its customers are purchasing collectable items that cannot be defined as loot box engagements.
In November the following year, Sorare announced that it was expanding free-to-play access on its platform in response to concerns by French gambling authority l’Autorité Nationale des Jeux (ANJ).
Since March, ANJ had scrutinised Sorare due to concerns about its NFT platform’s legibility to maintain customer protections, underage gaming and money laundering risks.
