The link between casinos and football clubs has become stronger over the last decade. The amount of casino or bookie sponsorship deals bagged by football clubs in England is on the rise and these gambling establishments aren’t slowing down. It’s not just in the Premier League or Europe’s top leagues either. Why? Let’s take a more in-depth look at the link between football clubs and casinos.
History of sponsorship
It’s been well over a decade since the first sponsorship link was established between an online betting company and a football club. Bwin were the main sponsors of Real Madrid for about five years before the bookie entered a digital partnership with Manchester United and launched the first football club based online casino mobile app. This was accepted by the club’s fans and bwin gained a lot from the partnership.
Other casino-football club partnerships worth mentioning are Liverpool and Paddy Power, Stoke and bet365, Everton and SportPesa. What we can take from this is that the deals are lucrative for the football club in that they’re paid a decent sum of money, but that the casino or bookmaker also enjoys incredible exposure, which more often than not, has a positive impact on their operations. Of course, not all reputable casinos sponsor football clubs. There are top U.K casinos such as Conquestador.com – https://conquestador.com/ lthat offer quality gaming services and the best rewards to compliment.
What’s new in the 2018/19 season?
Today, nearly 60 percent of the Premier League and Championship teams are being sponsored by casinos and bookies. Although, it’s a completely different debate whether so many gambling enterprises should be allowed to sponsor football clubs with the negative consequences of such affiliation. However, football clubs are raking in huge profit which has led to many clubs lowering ticket prices, thus making football more affordable for the fans.
Here’s a list, of the teams sponsored by casinos or bookmakers in the Premier League and the Championship this season;
- Aston Villa – 32Red Birmingham City – 888Sport Blackburn – 10Bet Bolton – Betfred Bournemouth – Mansion88 Brentford – LeoVegas Bristol City – Dunder Burnley – LaBa 360 Crystal Palace ManBetX Derby County – 32Red Everton – SportPesa Fulham – Dafabet Huddersfield – OPE Hull City – SportPesa Ipswich – Magical Vegas Leeds United – 32Red Middlesbrough – 32Red
The list is quite long and we don’t expect to see a decrease in this figure in the next season. There is a 65% expected rise in this figure. These partnerships will also go on unless the governing bodies intervene and start to dictate the type of sponsorship deals football clubs can entertain. If the football clubs are profiting from it and the casinos and bookmakers themselves are also benefiting from the exposure, it looks like it’s a win-win situation for the foreseeable future.
Why Do Betting Firms Choose the Premier League?
It’s all about the stats, and they make for astounding reading. Over £1Bn is wagered globally on every single Premier League match. Around 95% of ad breaks on UK TV during a live football match will have at least one betting advertisement. Millions of people watch Premier League football worldwide. Even BBC’s Match of The Day attracts a few million views per week. With all this in mind, and the fact that betting on a football match has become the norm for the majority of football fans in the UK, it’s no wonder casino, and bookmaker revenues have gone through the roof.
One can say the Premier League and the Championship, to name a few competitions are gold mines for bookies and casinos. The clubs in these leagues, entertain deals from bookies and casinos to gather more funds and generate billions of pounds. Currently, nothing is slowing down the rate at which football clubs and betting firms do business together. However, the downside of exposing youngsters to gambling still exists, which draws concerns from folks around the world.
