Published: February 10, 2019

Turner Sports inks deal with Caesars for Bleacher Report betting content

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The broadcaster Turner Sports announced an agreement with casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp on Thursday to develop sports-betting content and open a Bleacher Report studio inside one of Caesars’ Las Vegas casinos.

The sportsbook inside of Caesars Palace will be home to the B/R studio, which is expected to produce gaming-related programming and editorial content and to open in early summer.

The shows will be distributed through B/R, a popular sports and culture website purchased in 2012 by the Turner Broadcasting System Inc division.

“Gaming content will be a key driver for increasing fan engagement across all platforms, including time spent watching live sporting events and other criteria that impact television viewership,” said Turner Sports President Lenny Daniels in a statement.

The sponsorship allows Caesars to reach the “millions of fans” who interact with B/R each day, said Mark Frissora, president and chief executive officer for Caesars Entertainment.

B/R is the top-ranked digital sports content provider for Millennial and Generation Z fans, with 84 percent of its audience under the age of 35, Turner said.

It reaches more than 250 million people monthly across social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Caesars has had a long relationship with sports. It has hosted boxing greats Larry Holmes, Sugar Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler, and the bizarre 1993 rematch between Riddick Bowe and Evander Holyfield in which a man parachuted into the ring during the seventh round, getting tangled in a lighting rig and crashing through the ropes.

In January, the National Football League chose Caesars for its first-ever sponsorship deal with a casino, though that agreement explicitly excluded sports betting.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-turner-broadcast-caesars-sport/turner-sports-inks-deal-with-caesars-for-bleacher-report-betting-content-idUSKCN1PW2PF