After less than a year after their partnership agreement was signed in September 2016, the professional Sweden-based eSports organisation Ninjas in Pyjamas (NiP) and the international online gambling company Betway have decided to part ways.
The two companies have put their partnership to an end after Ninjas in Pyjamas was forced to obey League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) sponsorship rules under which no gambling operators are allowed to sponsor eSports organisations.
The sponsorship of the two parties ended as of August 13th, as revealed by Ninjas in Pyjamas. Still, the Swedish eSports organisation’s individual Counter-Strike players will still be sponsored by Betway.
The deal, which was supposed to be a multiple year agreement, was signed in September 2016 and constituted Betway as the major sponsor of Ninjas in Pyjamas in the long term. However, Riot Games which is the the owner of the LCS has suspended gambling websites from being sponsors of organisations such as NiP. These requirements were actually the reason why Ninjas in Pyjamas have made the decision to terminate the partnership agreement with one of the largest iGaming operators on a global scale.
The rules of League of Legends Championship Series are very strict as far as the sponsors of the eSports organisations are concerned. The sponsorship agreement between Ninjas in Pyjamas and Betway is in conflict with rule 7.2.4, under which no logos of a lottery or enterprise, product or service related to gambling in any way is allowed to be displayed by teams.
At the end of September 2016, global gaming and sports betting operator Betway revealed that a newly-inked partnership agreement with Ninjas in Pyjamas is to make the company the headline sponsor of the legendary team. Under the terms of the six-figure deal, the operator received content usage rights, full player access, NiP on-site branding and of course, on-shirt branding. Unfortunately for the parties, the latter seems to have become a problem that could prevent Ninjas in Pyjamas from taking part in the League of Legends Championship Series.
The social media associate of NiP, Lukas Berc, confirmed that entering League of Legends came with a new set of regulations which became the reason why Betway could no longer remain as the main sponsor of Ninjas in Pyjamas. Still, he described the partnership of the two parties as one of the most successful ones in the eSports industry as a whole.
The players of Ninjas in Pyjamas have been wearing Betway logo in their other games, but they were noticed for either wearing other NiP merchandise on their jerseys throughout their first League of Legends Championship Series, or wearing jerseys that did not feature the company’s logo.
This is not the first time when Riot Games’ rules forced an eSport organisation to end a sponsorship deal. Earlier in 2017, G2 Esports was also pressed to put its partnership deal with the re-selling site Kinguin to an end, too, as the Kinguin’s title-sponsored League of Legends side managed to qualify for the EU Challenger Series. The team of Kinguin, however, lost its position in the EUCS.
- Author
Olivia Cole
