Daily fantasy sports (DFS) operator DraftKings has entered into a partnership with Toronto-based Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE).
The four-year deal will allow select DraftKings players to enjoy “special experiences” with MLSE’s three pro sports franchises. MLSE owns the National Hockey League’s Toronto Maple Leafs, the National Basketball Association’s Toronto Raptors and Major League Soccer’s Toronto FC.
MLSE also owns Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, where MLSE chief commercial officer David Hopkinson said DraftKings would be setting up an “interactive zone” in which fans could play DFS on the site. DraftKings has installed similar ‘zones’ at three NFL stadiums.
The deal marks DraftKings’s first such pact outside the United States, and biz-dev VP Jeremy Elbaum said it marked the first salvo in a planned wave of international expansion. Elbaum called Canada an untapped market for DFS operators and said the MLSE deal was a natural given the “good results from people signing up in the Toronto area.”