PokerStars Enter Formula One with Red Bull Racing Partnership
Author:
Roy Brindley
The first test session of the 2022 Formula One season is less than a month away. From mid-February teams will officially launch their cars for the year ahead. Without physical racing, this is an exciting time for Formula One fans.
World Champion Max Verstappen will have PokerStars logo printed on his overalls in 2022. ©GettyImages/Red Bull Content Pool
It has also become an exciting time for online poker players as this week PokerStars announced it would become the second major poker site to sponsor a leading Formula One team during the coming season.
In May 2021, PartyPoker and PartyCasino became partners of McLaren. This was the first partnership between an online poker room and a Formula One team since Full Tilt Poker and the short-lived Virgin Racing were bedfellows in 2010.
PokerStars Join a Bull Market
PokerStars have now joined the proverbial party by announcing a partnership with Red Bull Racing. The new multi-year agreement will see PokerStars branding on Red Bull’s race cars and drivers race apparel.
But most importantly for PokerStars customers, a media release announcing the new partnership indicates players will benefit from this tie-up.
It stated: “The new relationship enables both Red Bull Racing and PokerStars to reach audiences who share similar passions and interests while rewarding and engaging existing fans and players in new and unique ways with Formula One-fueled entertainment, as well as epic experiences, promotions, competitions and content.”
Who Will Fare Best in Battle?
During 2021 PartyCasino – a site that has a dedicated Access Hub for its card-playing Formula One fans – ran several promotions. The highlight of which was a full McLaren F1 Team experience at the Italian Grand Prix with a meet-and-greet session with McLaren driver Daniel Ricciardo and $5,000 in cash to cover spending money and expenses.
Of course, PokerStars will not be a new name to many Formula One armchair viewers. Throughout 2021 the company’s logo featured prominently and exclusively on the virtual trackside advertising that was broadcast in European homes.
But the new partnership will doubtlessly see PokerStars ramp up its community activities allowing a select number of customers to interact with the Red Bull team and attend corporate days and race weekends.
In fact, as longstanding rivals, PokerStars will plan to match and possibly surpass the Formula One promotional efforts of PartyPoker. Resultantly, 2022 will be a fascinating battle on the racetrack and on Sunday evenings when most of the major online poker tournaments are played.
PokerStars Sunday Million Celebration
On March 20, the leader is likely to be PokerStars as the site’s iconic Sunday Million tournament is celebrating its 16th anniversary. To mark the occasion bosses have given the $215 Texas Hold’em competition a $10 million guaranteed prize pool.
The corresponding tournament in 2021 was won by Canadian poker professional and Twitch streamer Vanessa ‘Niffler’ Kade. Her prize for outlasting a field of 69,876 entries was $1.5 million.
