Online Gambling Brands Big Into Sports Sponsorships
Today, running a professional sports team is an enormously expensive proposition. It requires covering inflated player salaries each month that often seem beyond imagination, as well as maintaining the large campuses and stadiums that serve as the teams' homes. This is why a team's jersey needs to be sponsored.
The global online gambling industry is growing rapidly every year, and the biggest online gaming and betting companies are reaping the rewards. To stay in the race, they need to make themselves and their brands known, and that's the driving force behind a current of sports sponsorship sweeping through their industry.
The biggest beneficiaries of online gambling sponsorship are undoubtedly the football clubs of the UK and Europe. It is difficult to watch a football match these days without seeing the name of at least one of the top online gambling brands emblazoned on a team's shirt, or seeing advertising around the perimeter of a football club's ground.
Online Gaming Sport Sponsorships are Common in England
Sports sponsorship by online gaming companies is most prevalent in England, France, Italy, Spain and Malaysia - countries that have largely legalized and regulated their online gaming industries. But don't think for a second that this awareness campaign is simply meant to resonate with the country's gambling fans. It's much broader than that.
Most of the top British and European football matches are now broadcast around the world, and for online sports betting companies this presents a golden opportunity to use their global reach to create and grow brand awareness in other countries. They can beam their advertising into the living rooms of any number of nations, attracting a whole new set of potential customers to the online gambling marketplace.
However, the world of sports sponsorship by online gambling companies is not all champagne and caviar. In countries where online gambling is illegal and unregulated, sponsorship by online gambling companies can become a pretty big bone of contention. Take, for example, the situation in Portugal.
A Portuguese court recently ordered Bwin.party Digital Entertainment, the world's largest publicly listed online gaming company, to cease all forms of advertising and sponsorship of national sporting events in Portugal. The ruling jeopardizes the company's relationship as the main sponsor of the federally recognized Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Americano.
Local Licensing Laws Could Impact UK Sports Sponsorships
Similarly, sports sponsorship by online gaming brands in the UK could be affected if a new local online gaming licensing regime - currently under review - is adopted. Currently, any European licensed online gambling company can operate and advertise in the UK. However, in the next few years, if new local licensing laws come into effect, only UK-licensed online gambling companies would be able to operate and advertise in the UK.
That could mean less funding for sports sponsorship, and the very high tax rate on online betting in the UK means that even the licensed companies in that country have less money available for that sponsorship. So if we are not going to argue about the duty to engage, we should at least be grateful for the outcome here. And really, there's no better sports sponsorship than that of a team that's playing well.
It will be interesting to see the direction of sports sponsorship in the UK over the next few years. Below are the top 10 gaming sports sponsorships in the world (Source: Sports Sponsorship and Online Gaming Sector White Paper - Matthew Glendinning, Editor, Sports Marketing Frontiers):
Top 10 Gambling Sports Sponsorships
| Sponsor | Team/Sport | Year | Value |
| Sport's Toto | Turkish Süper Lig | 2010 to 2015 | $125 million |
| Bwin | Real Madrid | 2010 to 2013 | $80.4 million |
| Bwin | AC Milan | 2006 to 2010 | $64.3 million |
| Mansion | Tottenham Hotspur | 2006 to 2010 | $53 million |
| Betclic | Juventus | 2010 to 2012 | $21.4 million |
| Genting | Aston Villa | 2011 to 2013 | $16 million |
| Vriendenloterij | Eredivisie | 2011 to 2014 | $10 million |
| Bwin | MotoGP | 2012 to 2013 | $5 to $10 million |
| Mansion | Manchester City | 2011 to 2013 | $8.4 million |
| 12Bet | Sevilla | 2009 to 2011 | $8 million |