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A Look Around Europe's Top Football Leagues & Their Relationship With Betting

02 September 2019, 14:57 CET

Football and betting have always had a close relationship, but that is closer than ever before with sponsorship of football clubs in English football huge business worth millions upon millions of fans.

Football betting

Football sponsorship today is worth around £33billion worldwide and a large chunk of that is now with bookmakers.

Take a look through comparison sites like topratedbettingsites.co.uk and you'll find the vast majority of the biggest name bookmakers are associated with football via sponsorship, many the main shirt sponsor with a Premier League side.

As it stands, Premier League clubs alone will earn £350million from gambling sponsorship with half of the sides having betting sites featured on their shirt. It's a similar story in the Championship, where 17 from 24 clubs welcome betting sites to their shirt, highlighting just how close betting and football's relationship really is.

Across Europe it's very similar. Italian football particularly has a long history with betting, of course not always for the right reasons.

In Serie A, a new betting partner has recently been announced, although clubs are no longer permitted to have betting sponsors on their shirts such was the dominance.

It's believed that the removal of sponsors could be catastrophic for clubs, with gaming sites likely to place their sponsorship elsewhere.

bet365 have a deal with 10 La Liga clubs, with the brand visible in various capacities including across the stadium, online and through social channels.

The industry is only growing in size across Europe and it's making football even more lucrative. Big clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester United all have betting partners worth millions to them, while only three clubs in the whole of the Premier League don't have a betting partner at the start of this season.

Of course, it makes sense. Gambling on football is worth £1.4billion in the UK alone, so it makes sense that brands are looking to connect themselves further with clubs and leagues.

It's believed the sponsorship revenue for this particular part of the industry has grown 10% for this season. That will likely rise again next year, particularly with the news that betting adverts now can't be shown during live sport. That means that sponsorship will be further key to strategies.

The beginning of the season saw some more inventive ways to do that. Paddy Power launched a hugely successful PR stunt in their sponsoring of Huddersfield Town, and with Paddy Power joining the ranks of shirt sponsors, more will certainly follow.

Next summer will be interesting as more companies look to grow their relationship with football. More barriers are being put in place, but that seems to only encourage the marketing and advertising departments to do something that little more different.

One thing is for sure, gambling sponsors won't be leaving football any time soon, not while clubs are benefiting so handsomely.

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