Sky Bet extends English Football League sponsorship deal
17 November 2017
30 Comments
Sky Bet has actually extended its multi-million pound sponsorship offer with the English Football League till the summer of 2024.
The betting operation is the headline sponsor for the Championship, League One and League Two football departments.
It gets its logo design on t-shirts, and rights for "Bet and Watch" for some matches.
Sky Bet says it will try to discourage problem betting through messaging on t-shirts, which clubs will benefit through more cash.
The bet9ja's welcome offer, which is worth 10s of millions of pounds, has actually been in location because 2013.
Sky Bet said it would be paying 20% more than it has actually done so far to extend the yohaig code arrangement from 2019 to 2024.
This will make the 11-year offer among the longest in expert sport, the company stated.
The Leeds-based operation, that includes sites such as Sky Vegas and Sky Bingo, is owned by personal equity group CVC Capital Partners, external. Broadcaster Sky holds a 20% stake in the firm.
The wagering industry has been under increasing scrutiny from the government, and from the regulator, the Gambling Commission.
Earlier this year the Football Association, English football's governing body, revealed it would end sponsorship handle betting firms.
However, competition organisers, and the clubs themselves, are totally free to take sponsorship from betting companies.
The cash from the Sky Bet deal will be divided among the 72 clubs in the English Football League, which covers the 3 divisions below the Premier League.
The president of Sky Bet, Richard Flint informed the BBC's Awaken to Money podcast that the English Football League used the yohaig code profits generated to assist them run their day-to-day operations.
He said: "Without sponsorship from the wagering market there aren't a variety of sponsors ready to get associated with football."
However, there are worries that increasing numbers of young fans are being exposed to betting adverts.
One of the findings of the BBC's yearly Price of Football survey was that more young football fans bank on games than play the sport.
About 95% of TV ad breaks in live football matches function at least one gambling advert, the BBC discovered in October.
In some matches, 40% of the adverts were for gambling.
Mr Flint informed the BBC that Sky Bet and the English Football League were actively promoting awareness about issue betting as part of the "When the fun stops. Stop" project.
"From the play offs and consisting of next season every t-shirt will have a responsible gambling message on the yohaig code t-shirt sleeve and we're tying that into an accountable gambling project starting today, that includes a television advert and perimeter boards at EFL video games," he stated
The "When the fun stops. Stop" campaign is managed by the Senet Group, which was established in 2014 by some of Britain's leading bookmakers in reaction to public issues about betting and betting addiction.
The head of the GambleAware charity, Marc Etches, said that while it invited a dedication to do more to promote much safer gambling, "the messaging requires to be far more specific about the risk involved than what the gaming industry currently proposes".
Reality Check: Just how much of an issue is issue gaming?
5 November 2017
23 October 2017
