Vegas Golden Knights End Partnership With Tout Site
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Who Is UpickTrade?
UpickTrade is a Mexican-based company that sells sports betting picks and launched back at the end of 2017. This partnership was the first we have seen from any US-based professional team, and a sport picks selling service. The website features packages to teach users how to manage their money, how much to bet, and what to bet on. UpickTrade also sells data to help project winning bets and the outcomes of games. On their site, there is very little to suggest where this data comes from and the success of their overall picks. However, they do provide prior bet slips throughout various months.
What The Partnership Included
Last Wednesday, the deal was finalized to make this the first professional sports team to partner with a sports betting tout service. The goal was to have UpickTrade featured on the team’s social media and website. There would even be ads placed around T-Mobile Arena. Mike Mungiello, the vice president of partnerships for Las Vegas, wanted the fanbase to use UpickTrade for their sports betting needs. While the site was not allowed to sell picks on games involving the Knights, there was still a concern for getting injury or any inside information from the team. The partnership lasted only three days, and as soon as the ads were up on the site on Saturday, they were quickly taken off as the deal was struck down on Sunday.
Why The Public Criticism?
After three days, the agreement ended between the Golden Knights and UpickTrade after plenty of criticism from the public. Most of this game from betting experts and those directly from the betting community. The social media crowd also voiced their displeasure as the team took a major hit after the partnership was announced. The main reason for this was that sports betting legalization is still going through regulations and trying to establish itself as a credible industry. Las Vegas seemingly jumped the gun with a company without much history and rocked the boat a bit. As sports betting is newly legalized, the last thing the industry wants is a black eye already. Avoiding these tout partnerships is an easy way to make sure that doesn’t happen.
The pick-selling industry has had an odd history and is often viewed as very pushy and cheesy. There have also been issues about the credibility of picks the overall track record when trying to acquire new customers. As mentioned above, the public was concerned with inside information between the partnership. UpickTrade has not released much of a statement after the cancellation, other than they were in shock about the decision.
