Online gambling has done everything to extend the reach and respectability of betting on sport.
And the move towards digital has created a boom in the betting industry which has seen a profusion of new brands operating in what is now a hugely competitive marketplace.
So guess what? Many of these betting companies have turned to sport – and football shirt sponsorships in particular - in order to establish their brands.
That’s what sport sponsorship does: it’s great for generating awareness. That’s why every boom business sector in the last 20 years flocked to football and other sports: booze, computers, mobile phones and now betting have come to dominate the landscape.
So on one level, betting companies are making a significant contribution to sports’ coffers. But could they do more? After all, a betting company is not a computer company. A massive chunk of their business hinges on their access to the data generated by sport. So does paying for a shirt-front excuse them from paying a defined and carefully-negotiated rights fee for using results and the whole range of other sports IP on which their businesses are built?
In fact, couldn’t we go a step further? Could the sale of betting rights to individual operators not become a clearly-defined new revenue stream for sports rights holders? If you can have an official soft drink or beer, why not an exclusive betting partner which has the sole rights to make a book on your property. It’s a deal which might be a straight fee, a profit-share or a combination of both. But how could it ever be policed?
One way or another, the relationship between sport and gambling has never been more important, not least because both parties have a vested interest in keeping sport clean and credible by ensuring illegal operators and the temptations they brandish are kept at bay.
So where is relationship going? Is the current status quo here to stay, or is there any significant movement for change? This is what our experts had to say.
Nick Fitzpatrick Partner, Sports Group, DLA Piper: “Why should sports rights holders be forced to go to such lengths in order to establish their rights, when the value of sport to the betting industry extends to the exploitation of the event itself by allowing the placing of bets?”
Mark Davies Chairman, Integrity in Sport: “Businesses make money because other businesses exist. That’s the world.”
Andrew Craig CEO, The Craig Company: “Sport does not need to abandon established practices any more than it does for other commercial partners but it does need to recognise the way in which IP is managed can influence value.”
Craig Reedie Executive Board Member, International Olympic Committee: “Perhaps the real model going forward is in the new legislation in France under which all approved betting operators need to recognise the needs of sport and pay a fee for the right to use sports results.”
For the full debate see the latest edition of SportBusiness International published April 1.
