Gambling and soccer don’t have too much in common, but one thing brings them closer together. We are talking about their target audiences that primarily consist of younger and middle-aged men who are searching for some extra excitement in their lives.
In such circumstances, it’s not a surprising thing to see so many betting sponsors in football these days. The point is to approach the target group as closely as possible in order to show people that online casinos or bookies are just as exciting as soccer. For instance, countries like Norway have a strong online casino market. Local companies with gambling sponsorship in football are eager to prove that the best online casinos from the toppcasinonorge.com list are worth players’ attention. But the same goes for all other countries and their respective gambling websites – they all want to approach the same users through marketing promotion.
But how strong are these partnerships in real life? Do they bring the benefits both parties expect to see? We will explore these – and many other – questions in the coming paragraphs.
Why do football gambling partnerships grow popularity-wise?
The first task on our to-do list is to further discuss the growing influence of football shirt sponsorship and other types of marketing deals in modern sports. For one, teams are happy to embrace this trend because they gain a serious extra source of revenue. As gambling companies seek to expand their reach and capitalize on the massive global fan base of football, they are also willing to invest some big money in sponsorship deals. This additional income can be crucial for clubs as well as entire leagues:
– They can gain financial stability
– It’s easier to invest in player transfers
– There’s more money to improve facilities
– It gives them some breathing room to invest in younger sections
But there are other perks, though. Football is a truly global sport with more than three billion fans all over the place. As such, it makes a perfect starting point for casino providers and sportsbooks eager to enlarge their customer bases. This level of global exposure is almost impossible to find in any other business or pastime activity.
Thirdly, English Premier League betting sponsors tend to design all sorts of promotional activities that seriously improve fan experiences. This can include many things, but our personal favorites are exclusive promotions and interactive content related to both the team and the gambling platform. The point is that gambling companies build a strong customer base among soccer fans by associating their brand with a beloved football club.
Famous gambling sponsors in EPL
The EPL is the world’s most popular league, so we get to hear this question a lot: Who sponsors the Premier League? The league itself doesn’t have too many gambling-related partners. However, there are companies like Sorare that deal with virtual fantasy gaming content with certain in-game betting elements.
On the other hand, Premier League sponsors are extremely colorful when it comes to the actual teams. It turns out that 7 out of 20 teams in the competition have a betting company partner with whom they signed a shirt branding contract. We are talking about these clubs in particular:
– Brentford has a deal with Hollywoodbets
– West Ham United signed a contract with Betway
– Aston Villa cooperates with BK8
– Everton has a business arrangement with Stake.com
– Dafabet sponsors AFC Bournemouth
– Fulham partnered with Sbotop
– Burnley has a deal with W88
A Big Change Is to Take Place in Two Years
Though jersey logo sponsorships prevail, a big change is about to take place in the 2026/27 season. This is the year when all EPL clubs will stop promoting gambling-related companies on their official shirts. That decision came after months of negotiations with the League itself because the overall goal is to promote responsible gambling and reduce the influence of major betting operators in domestic football.
Gambling sponsorship outside the English Premier League
Though most popular, the EPL isn’t the only competition that attracts betting-related investors. On the contrary, we can see their influence in countless other leagues – including some of the prominent European competitions.
The relationship between gambling entities and football clubs has been prevalent in the Spanish football landscape, too. Atletico Madrid, for instance, had a sponsorship deal with Plus500, a trading platform that includes contracts for difference (CFD) trading services. At the same time, Valencia CF had a sponsorship agreement with the gambling platform called Bwin. In addition, Unibet had deals with more than one La Liga club, including Real Betis.
However, we must add that La Liga is also trying to distance itself from gambling providers in an attempt to promote fairness as well as responsible gaming practices.
Italy has somewhat stricter betting-related regulations than most other countries, so it doesn’t allow gambling promotion on team jerseys. However, there were quite a few deals among sportsbooks and elite clubs in this competition.
For instance, Betway (a frequent sponsor of many football clubs) used to have a partnership with AS Roma in the past. Juventus has an ongoing partnership with Betera, a gaming company with an entire branch dedicated solely to sports betting.
Betting Partnerships Seem To Be Inevitable
Betting sponsors seem to be having football teams in a firm grip these days. That’s because the partnerships result in win-win situations for all parties involved, giving them all unique advantages. Most countries are now trying to minimize this influence in the long run, but we believe that gambling sponsorships are going to prevail nonetheless. What do you think about this trend?
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