Football and gambling are two intertwined industries that are growing fast and a lot of business opportunities lie in this billion-dollar landscape. Football is very popular among fans around the world with a billion people actively involved in it in one way or the other. Top leagues in Europe like the Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Ligue 1 command millions of soccer-loving fans all over the world and generate billions of dollars in revenue which includes sponsorship deals, TV rights, etc.
Samuel Richardson is the subject matter expert here; he explains the relationship between football and gambling and how clubs are helping the rise in the popularity of online casinos. Football and sports betting are two popular activities. Fans love to place bets on their favourite clubs and this has also led to the popularity of online casino sites like Play casino.
Currently, there are a lot of football clubs in the UK that have huge sponsorship deals with online casino companies. It’s a two-way deal, the football clubs are being paid millions to be sponsored by these casino companies while the casinos are able to advertise to millions of fans by branding their shirts with their names. Let us analyse this multi-million dollar industry and see how these clubs are helping the popularity of online casinos.
THE FOOTBALL INDUSTRY IN UK
Football is currently seen as one of the top-earning industries in the UK. No wonder everyone wants to have a piece of cake from this multi-million generating revenue industry. There has been an increase in the revenue generated by football in Europe between 2016 and 2019 with more than 1.25 billion Euros being pumped into the market during that period. Currently, the value of the football industry is more than 30 billion Euros and that is a huge market for any investor to tap in to. Because of this, online gambling is utilising this market to realise enormous profits and increased revenue.
THE GAMBLING INDUSTRY IN UK
Due to the global pandemic (COVID-19) there was a spike in revenue generated by online gambling. In the UK gross gaming revenue was estimated to be 22.2 billion Euros and the gaming market is valued to increase to 24.7 billion by the end of 2020. The online casino industry is generating more than 50% of this value and there is no slowing down as online companies are looking for ways to advertise their companies. Football clubs remain one of the best ways of branding and that is why many online casino companies secure partnerships with leading clubs.
WHY FOOTBALL TEAMS ARE SPONSORED BY GAMBLING COMPANIES
Many gambling companies are sponsors of football clubs; in the UK we have BetWay and Unibet as two of the top sponsors in the industry with a whopping $23.1 million and $22.5 million respectively. Premier League regulars West Ham has BetWay branded on their shirts and Unibet were the official partners of Paris St. Germain in 2018. Other betting companies like Toto which is Turkish-based are also top investors in the Turkish Super Lig with investments worth $29.5 million. The major drive for the sponsorship is the revenue and international recognition of these football leagues. The Premier League is popular internationally and these gambling companies use shirt sponsorship deals as a way of advertising their services to their global fanbases.
WHAT IS THE GAIN FOR FOOTBALL CLUBS
Football clubs generally have multiple income streams and a sponsorship deal is just one of them. Due to the popularity of football in the world, especially in the UK, it makes it a profitable venture. Also, some of the highest-paid athletes are footballers. So they need money for player payment, social responsibilities, youth team development etc. Multi-million pound sponsorship deals with casinos is a way to supplement their revenues.
HOW DO CASINOS BENEFIT FROM SPONSORSHIP
Brand awareness refers to ways of making people notice your product or service. A partnership with a football club allows these casinos to create awareness to their target audiences. The most common way for these gambling companies to create such is by sponsoring football clubs. This means the football club agrees to carry the Logo of the sponsor on its jerseys and training tops. This action generates traffic to the casinos websites because its name is being seen by millions of fans across the world. This leads to increased sales, popularity and an upward trend in revenue generated.
TOP FOOTBALL CLUBS AND THEIR CASINO SPONSORS IN UK
- West Ham: BetWay is a popular sports betting site with online casinos and poker sites. They provide clients in different regions including the UK, Italy, Malta, and Germany with online gambling-related products. They are the official shirt sponsors of West Ham with a sponsorship deal signed since in 2015.
- Everton: Everton is currently playing in the English Premier League and a Kenyan gaming company SportPesa is in partnership with them since 2017 in a deal spanning over 5 years till 2022.
- Newcastle: A Chinese gambling company called FUN88 has been the shirt sponsors of Newcastle since 2017.
- Stoke City: Stoke City is currently sponsored by Bet365. It is one of the oldest sponsors with an early contract signed since 2012.
- Crystal Palace: The current sponsor of Crystal Palace is an online gaming brand W88. W88 offers a wide selection of sports betting, online casino games and live dealer casino.
These are some of the football clubs in the UK that are sponsored by top gambling companies. So long as football continues to be a multi-billion pound industry, online gambling companies will keep tapping into this market.
CONCLUSION
Football clubs know the revenue they generate from huge sponsorship deals brought about by top gambling companies is an important part of their income streams. They create brand awareness for these companies to their target audience which advertises them and increases their sales. Both business strategies create a win-win scenario and it is not stopping anytime soon as more online casino companies will keep partnering with football clubs.
