HTH pens deal to become Inter Milan’s Asian partner
Asia-facing betting firm HTH inks agreement with Serie A giants Inter Milan
HTH has put pen to paper on a partnership agreement with Inter Milan to become the Serie A side’s official regional partner in Asia.
The Nerazzurri released a brief statement regarding the deal but did not disclose the partnership’s length or value.
Inter Milan said: “Internazionale Milano is pleased to announce that a partnership agreement has been reached with HTH.
“As Asia’s leading digital sports platform, HTH has been deeply involved in online digital sports entertainment for many years.
“HTH is committed to creating an integrated sports entertainment platform that conforms to the current trend, providing a comfortable, safe and reliable diversified sports entertainment platform for global sports fans.”
HTH also sponsors Premier League side Leicester City as an official global partner.
This deal circumvents the ban that was implemented in Italy in January 2019, which stopped all forms of gambling advertising in the country, except for already pre-existing deals, which were allowed to run their course.
The caveat to this ban is that it only applies to Italy-facing advertising, which has led to other clubs in the region, such as Juventus and Lazio, striking deals with companies that focus on other markets.
Some other operators have still gone ahead with deals with Italian clubs despite the ban. For example, SKS365-owned PlanetPay365 partnered with Torino, which followed similar deals with Roma and Fiorentina.
PlanetPay365 also partnered with Lazio during the Biancocelesti’s recent summer camp for disadvantaged children.
This kind of deal circumvented the ban as it was done via the payment provider rather than the betting arm of the company.
The ban itself has come in for major criticism, with the Italian FA writing to the government to suspend the ban to allow clubs to recover from the financial impact of the pandemic.