Polish Football Clubs
are Not Happy
March
15, 2010
Many online gambling sites
sponsor various sporting events around the world. You might see their
names on their jerseys or on the fields where they play – and it is a
lucrative business for everyone involved. The online gambling sites get
excellent publicity and they manage to get many more players based on
that advertising. The sporting clubs and events like it because they get
the millions of dollars that are usually spent to offer that publicity.
But some countries have decided that they do not want online gambling
sites advertising at sporting events or through the teams themselves.
Poland is just one of the latest to put their foot down and say that no
online gambling is allowed at sporting events. As of January 1st of this
year, it is illegal for any online gambling site to advertise in
conjunction with any sporting event.
This will seriously hurt the Polish Football Federation as they have a
major sponsorship agreement with the online gambling company Unibet. The
new law says that the online gambling group cannot show their branding
in stadiums or on television. This means that the Polish leagues are
going to be in real trouble for they were before the deal went through.
The online gambling sponsorship was very helpful to them as they have
been struggling financially, and by denying them this they are possibly
putting the proverbial nail in their coffin.
According to the Football Club, the sponsorship has been suspended and
in doing so they have “robbed” the clubs and their supporters of “the
chance to earn the type of money needed if Polish Football is to
progress and regain a sure footing in the global game.” They say that
the sport drastically needed the online gambling money in order to
rebuild themselves and now this is going to be all but impossible for
them to do.
