Betcris Sponsors Honduras National Soccer League
Author:
Megan Butler
Betcris, a gaming operator focused on Latin American sports, is now the title sponsor of Honduras’ premier football cup. The competition will now be known as the Liga Betcris de Honduras for the duration of their three-year sponsorship contract.
Online gaming operator Betcris is now the title sponsor for Honduras’s premier soccer competition. ?Thomas Serer/Unsplash
Betcris opening doors to new markets in LATAM
Betcris is swiftly expanding their operations across the region, despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of cancelled sporting events. The Costa Rica-headquartered company is owned by TV Global Enterprises (based in Malta), and currently has an array of partnerships in nine LATAM countries, including Peru, Panama, Mexico, and now Honduras.
In an official statement from Betcris, its chief commercial offer Gabriel Nú?ez Del Arco said:
“For Betcris it is a great honour to have an alliance with a Football League in Central America, such as the National League of Honduras, where we know that their clubs have a huge historical tradition.”
A “strategic move” for Honduran soccer
There seems to be equal excitement about the possibilities of Betcris’ partnership and influence on the side of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras, otherwise known as the “Liga Salva Vida” or Honduran National Professional Football League.
In the same Betcris statement, Wilfredo Guzmán, President of the National League, said:
“With this great strategic move, we seek to contribute to the sports development of the country. The search for continuous improvement has led to the form of a sponsor of great prestige at an international level, thank you for your trust and rest assured that this alliance will leave many benefits for national football. A new path begins today with the Liga Betcris de Honduras.”– Wilfredo Guzmán, President of the National League, press statement
The league was established in 1964 and has become a mainstay sports competition for soccer fans in the region. Winners of its opening and closing seasons feed into the CONCACAF Champions League competition. Ten teams are participating this year.
Soccer is unquestionably the most popular sport in the nation. Fans were thrilled on July 13th to see the Honduran national team beat Grenada 4-0 in the current CONCACAF Gold Cup. The team is still playing in the group stage.
In another win for the country, the Honduran team also beat out the U.S. in the under-23s’ qualifier for the Tokyo Olympics in March of this year.
About Betcris
Betcris is a gambling operator with more than 100 locations across Latin America. Though its sportsbooks may have taken a hit due to game cancellations in 2020 and 2021, the company cleverly shifted gears to offer other betting alternatives for fans.
In 2020, Betcris offered users the chance to bet on whether or not the Tokyo Olympics would take place on July 24 as planned. 58% of users guessed correctly that the Olympics would be postponed.
Betcris also survived by widening the idea of what constitutes sportsbetting, looking to eSports, table tennis, and other lesser known entertainment realms to keep fans engaged throughout the early days of lockdown.
The company has also done well to further its pursuits in the Americas, recently clinching a deal with the NFL and MLB as a main betting partner for fans of American football throughout its LATAM markets. Beyond these iconic American leagues, Betcris has also partnered with Ecuador’s LigaPro, the Federation of Soccer in Ecuador and the Mexican Football Federation.
Soccer and Honduras’s COVID-19 response
There is no denying that COVID-19 struck Honduran soccer hard in the last sixteen month. As the nation closed down offices and public events, sports games were cancelled and smaller teams already operating in the red risked completely going under.
By September 2020, soccer games resumed under strict health and safety measures, which unfortunately meant excluding fans and therefore ticket sales. The loss of income affected teams, leagues and many others involved in the sports industry.
The treatment of soccer in the midst of the pandemic also earned the ire of Hondurans who felt it was unfair that sports events were limited while politicians were given special permission to conduct large rallies.
With CONCACAF competitions, the Olympics and Liga Betcris de Honduras to look forward to, there is at least hope that Honduran soccer will make it through to the other side of this global pandemic.
