MaximBet is offering contracts to every female student-athlete in Colorado over 21 years old as part of newly changed rules governing the use of name, image and likeness of collegiate athletes.
According to Forbes, the majority — but not all — state laws and institutional policies governing collegiate NIL prohibit deals with sports betting or gambling entities.
MaximBet — a sports betting lifestyle brand operated by Carousel Group — is offering the contracts regardless of whether the Colorado athletes play Division I, II or III. Colorado’s law doesn’t prohibit working with brands in any specific categories, including the gambling industry, nor do the University of Colorado or Colorado State University policies.
“We were exploring opportunities as a way to launch our brand,” Doug Terfehr, vice president of brand and communications at MaximBet, told Forbes. “We wanted to start building awareness and connecting with the local Colorado community. We saw that student athletes were not excluded from the right to partner with sports betting brands, so we thought it was a great opportunity to give back to the student athletes.”
The offer is a four-month commitment and each contracted female athlete would receive a cash payment of $500, invitations to parties, merchandise and more. In order to become part of the MaximBet NIL team, eligible athletes must follow the brand on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Twitter, and send a DM to the brand on any of those platforms indicating interest, Forbes reported.
In return for the cash payment and other considerations, the student athletes are asked to spotlight the brand on social media. However, they won’t be asked to encourage followers to sign up for a MaximBet account or place bets.
One of the first things the student-athletes will be asked to do is to promote the MaximBet Max-querade Party in Denver on Oct. 30. The two female athletes who secure the highest level of social engagement will receive an additional four-figure bonus on top of their cash payment.
“Beyond [the Max-querade Party], it's whatever they want. Whatever they feel comfortable with. If they want to be able to talk about responsible gaming, or if they want to be able to talk about their excitement for the games this weekend, whatever they want. If they want to share about downloading the MaximBet app for a great chance to win a bunch of great prizes or go to cool events like they get to go to, that’s fine too. We will be pretty flexible with the content.”
Terfehr said universities have started entering partnerships themselves with sports betting companies. University of Colorado announced a partnership with PointsBet last year.
Sources at two different Colorado universities told Forbes they don’t currently have rules forbidding student athletes from working with gambling companies — or any other industry — because they don’t believe Colorado’s law allows it.
Terfehr said his brand is choosing female student-athletes because it believes a lot of the NIL deals have been focused on male athletes. The same thinking led them to offer the deal to female student athletes across Division I, II and III.
“We firmly believe that the student athlete on a Division III campus are just as influential as a student athlete on a Division I campus, and sometimes maybe even more so in terms of the amount of people that they reach and touch beyond their social on a small Division III or Division II campus,” Terfehr added.
MaximBet is already live in Colorado and is set to go live in Indiana, Iowa, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
