Features

Online casino provider lands naming rights to Kiel arena

Sparkassen-Arena, home of leading German Handball Bundesliga club THW Kiel, has secured a new naming rights deal with online casino provider, Wunderino.de.

The company, which is licensed in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, of which Kiel is the capital city, has signed an initial five-year contract, with an option to extend for a further five years.

Wunderino has agreed the deal with the arena’s operators – CITTI, Kieler Nachrichten and Provinzial. The 13,500-capacity arena is also a major concert venue and has been known under its current name for 12 years through a contract with Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. From July 1 it will revert to the moniker Wunderino-Arena.

“With Wunderino, we have a reliable new partner,” Stefan Wolf, managing director of Konzert- und Veranstaltungsgesellschaft Kiel, told the Kieler Nachrichten newspaper.

“This is a completely legitimate company that has the license to operate. For us it is an advertising partner like any other company. Nor do I think that any artist or tenant is offended that the naming sponsor is an online casino.”

On the latter point, Wolf noted that a naming rights deal has existed since November 2011 for the PokerStars.de – Stadion in Lübeck.

Along with the naming rights contract, Wunderino has also signed a two-year sponsorship deal with THW Kiel, which has won the Bundesliga title a record 21 times.

Image: THW Kiel