It's no secret that the world of football sponsorship is big business. Almost every year a new financial record gets broken for the most expensive sponsorship, with recent examples including Emirates Airline's £300 million deal with Real Madrid, as well as the £448 million seven-year agreement between Manchester United and the car manufacturer Chevrolet. It's clear that sponsors think it is worth the cost.
One element of football sponsorships that is becoming increasingly visible is the tie-in between football teams and online casinos. A huge number of iconic teams, including Celtic, West Ham, and Crystal Palace, are all sponsored by online casinos. But why is this the case? Read on to find out some of the reasons.
Many casinos offer sports betting
One of the main reasons why almost 60% of English Premier League clubs have had at least one sponsorship with an online casino is because many of those casinos also offer betting on those same football teams, creating an obvious tie-in. Once a casino has caught a football fan's attention, they can start marketing other products to them.
For example, Mr Green Casino, which sponsors Celtic, offers a range of sports betting services, but it also offers immersive live casino gaming and award-winning blackjack online services that visitors can try. In some ways, football betting is a way of getting people through the door, so that they can gain access to some of the casino games on offer.
Casinos are flush with cash
Running a Premier League football club is, to put it mildly, expensive. That's why most of the top clubs will only consider sponsorships from massive companies with plenty of resources to invest. That's why casinos are an obvious choice for many.
The online casino industry has experienced massive growth over the course of the past decade, with some of the top UK casinos ranking among the most profitable companies in the country. There are few better candidates who are willing to stump up millions and millions of pounds for long-term sponsorship deals.
Casinos care about branding
The casino industry is a PR-conscious one that tends to prioritise brand visibility above most other forms of marketing. It does not take a genius to figure out why a football team sponsorship would be a stellar way to raise the profile of an online casino. Tens of millions of people will be exposed to an online casino brand whenever a footballer wearing a sponsored strip appears on the screen.
This is the kind of publicity and brand visibility that is impossible to attain via any other medium. Casinos know that football sponsorships work, in part because the exposure that such sponsorships afford is so massive that it is always bound to result in an influx of customers.
For both football clubs and online casinos alike, brand sponsorships of this kind work. It is for these reasons why it is unlikely that online casinos will be disappearing from football strips and stadia anytime soon.