Vegas Golden Knights Partner With Another Gaming Company: Second Time in a Week

Posted on: September 24, 2018, 03:19h. 

Last updated on: September 24, 2018, 03:19h.

Lucas Thomas Read More
Expertise: Sports Betting, Sports.

AGS, a Las Vegas-based supplier and developer of slot machines and casino technology, has become the latest local gaming manufacturer to partner with the Vegas Golden Knights for an in-game branding partnership. The company announced the deal on Monday.

Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury makes an acrobatic save against the Washington Capitals in Game 2 of the 2018 Stanley Cup at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on May 30. AGS is hoping to get its name out there on stunning plays like this. (LVR-J/Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post/Casino.org)

The deal between AGS and the Golden Knights will include the company’s slogan “Obsessed with the Game” on the Golden Knights scoreboard and each home game’s play of the game will be presented by AGS, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The Las Vegas-based company offers a wide variety of gaming products, from table games and equipment to slot machines and social casino software. Less well-known that some of its competitors like IGT and Aristrocrat, AGS is using its “underdog” status to align itself with the Knights, who came from way, way behind at the start of their first season to come within reach of a Stanley Cup victory.

“We both kind of came out of nowhere and haven’t been around for very long, which as a neat quirk we liked between the two groups,” Golden Knights’ Senior Vice President Jim Frevola said in the R-J.

Making it Official

The marketing partnership will officially be unveiled at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas from October 9-11. The company’s booth at the expo will feature a Vegas Golden Knights “promotional-use” slot machine, AGS announced on Twitter Monday.

AGS Chief Marketing Officer Julia Boguslawski said the deal has been in the works since the Golden Knights’ improbable march towards the Stanley Cup in its inaugural season.

“We reached out to the Knights right before the playoffs last season,” Boguslawski said.

The Golden Knights begin the season October 4th at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas against the Philadelphia Flyers.

More specific details about the deal were not immediately available on Monday.

Friend of the Industry

The Golden Knights haven’t been shy about partnering with gaming brands, despite long-standing anti-gambling stances from most major professional sports leagues, including the NHL.

The partnership with AGS comes a week after the Golden Knights announced a deal with bookmaker William Hill. The deal was significant because it marks the first time a sports betting company will have branding that is visible to television cameras. William Hill also has a base in Las Vegas and cited the close bonds between the team and the city in coming to the agreement.

“We are headquartered in Las Vegas and have seen first-hand what this team has done for our community. We are proud of the fact that this is the first sponsorship agreement between a sports book and an NHL team in the country,” said Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill US.

After a Supreme Court decision earlier this year struck down a federal ban on sports betting, sports books have moved fast to gain footing in states across the country. But before the Golden Knights partnered with William Hill, linking a pro sports team with a sports book still seemed taboo.

“This partnership between a major professional steam and a sports book operator is a historic, landmark agreement and we are delighted to be leading the way with William Hill in this space,” said VGK President Kerry Bubolz of the Hill deal last week.