Another sportsbook in Ontario is signing a sponsorship deal with a curling organization, which isn’t a surprise, given how popular the sport is across the country.
Unibet and the Northern Ontario Curling Association (NOCA) will partner for the 2022-23 curling season. Unibet will be the title sponsor of the 2023 Women’s and Men’s Curling Championships, to be held in Kenora Jan. 24-29.
This partnership with Unibet will enable NOCA to provide unprecedented streaming coverage of every game, on every sheet of ice, to curling fans around the province, according to Amanda Brewer, Kindred Group’s country manager Canada. Unibet is one of Kindred’s brands.
“Kindred has a long commitment to sponsoring amateur sport in countries around the world and Ontario is no different,” she said. “Curling is a well-loved Canadian winter sport and our sponsorship is a way to promote a fun, recreational, and competitive sport and its provincial championship. We look forward to announcing the full details soon.”
There’s no direct betting on games. It’s just a branding exercise for Unibet, Brewer added.
NOCA has 41 member clubs and 11,000 curlers.
Curling is a sport deeply embedded in Canada’s identity. The sport is played in every province and territory, in 1,000 clubs, by almost two million per year (pre-pandemic). There are more than 300 hours of Curling Canada events on television each year and the national championships for both men and women always score big ratings.
