Online Gambling News all over the world 10.8.2009

10.08.2009, Online Gambling Sports Sponsorship Growing / Letter Opposes Online Sports Betting / Online Sports Betting Debated Again in the USA

Online Gambling Sports Sponsorship Growing
A report recently published says sponsorship for the 20 top clubs has gone from £75 million two years ago to £65 million this year. That's a significant drop in the interest sponsors have in putting their logos on football team jerseys. Six clubs are at the top of the spending, accounting for £53 million of the total. Manchester United and City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur continue garner most of the interest in the Premier League usually at the expense of the smaller clubs.

The Bolton Wanderers and Wigan Athletic will share sponsorship by 188Bet. The online gambling company is thought to have paid a total of only £1.1 million for the deals. Nigel Currie, director of brandRapport, the company that produced the study said, "The popularity of Premier League football across 220 countries means that local sponsors have been substituted by global brands, who want worldwide exposure," adding, "They pay big money for the top names, but they want three or four-year deals and not the uncertainty that goes with the smaller teams, who could be facing regulation." "Companies now know that sponsorship takes them straight into the editorial of programmes so that they cannot be ignored."

Mintel another research expert forecasts that sponsorship income will improve by £1 million this year to £487 million, but, with the London 2012 Olympics driving the market, growth will accelerate to as much as £570 million by 2014.

Mintel commented, "The insulation offered by long-term deals might now be running out. The key challenges of the next few years will be to continue to innovate to create sponsorships that will allow brands to forge even closer bonds with consumers." Online gambling companies are getting into the act fast as they become the sports world's next big backers with plenty of cash and a strong will to get their companies well known. Some of the old sponsors are finding their offerings are looking stale and sports teams are ready for some new colours.

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Letter Opposes Online Sports Betting
A Democrat Senator from North Carolina, Heath Shuler, who is a former University of Tennessee and National Football League quarterback joined two other congressmen in the USA in writing a letter to the Department of Justice urging them to keep Delaware and New Jersey from establishing sports betting in those states.

USA Today was instrumental in reporting the letter's contents and interviewing the author. Shuler said in a statement to the press, "As a former college and professional football player, I know the real threat that sports betting brings to sports," adding, "Sports betting undermines the integrity and teamwork of athletes, coaches, teams and leagues. It threatens to destroy the necessary sense of competition that makes sports great." A Republican Senator from Alabama Spencer Bachus and Gregory Meeks a Democrat from New York put their names on the document as well. A request by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah and Jon Kyl of Arizona with the same request was also made public this week. Both letters ask Attorney General Eric Holder to uphold the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), which is a 1992 law that bans sports betting in all but four states.

"We encourage the Department of Justice to defend the federal prohibition against sports betting and take any action necessary to safeguard amateur and professional sports," the letter stated.

"There is reason to believe that Delaware intends to offer single-game betting, that is a type of bet never offered before in Delaware and one that clearly expands upon what Delaware had permitted in the past,"

Wayne Lemons, the Delaware Lottery Commissioner, said, the state will offer bettors both single-game and parlay betting. Delaware ran a sports lottery briefly in the 1970s, but it lasted but a year, it consisted of parlay betting only. Jack Markell, the Governor of Delaware is backing the bid for sportsbetting to help with the budget deficit, stated the plan was cleared by the Delaware Supreme Court and the rest of the argument should be left up to the judges.

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Online Sports Betting Debated Again in the USA
Delaware has been threatened with a lawsuit by the National Football League, and Delaware has essentially told them to "bring it on". A few other states like New Jersey and most recently Massachusetts are now saying the same to the organization that they will fight for the right to offer sports betting within their borders. The need for funds in those states has prompted the change in attitude towards the big league lobby.The sports groups that oppose sports betting say that gambling hurts the integrity of the game. Lawyers for the sports clubs and sports betting proponents will have to provide valid arguments on both sides of each question.

The leagues have gone so far as to threaten to take away teams from states that decide to offer sports betting. This is a move that will hurt the games not preserve their integrity. Sportsbooks in Nevada, offshore and in the United Kingdom have claimed that legal sports betting helps identify cheating and thus protects the integrity of games. In fact the NHL signed a memorandum of understanding with Betfair to identify suspicious betting on it's exchange.

Sports leagues in the states allow some lotteries to use their trademarks as part of the game, and very often casinos advertise at sporting events. Maybe this is a sign that the against lobby group is being unfair in it's approach across the board? In other words it's OK for some types of gambling and not others. The Americans should take lessons from the United Kingdom which has had legal sports betting since 1961 and Australia nearly as long. These countries have stated that sports betting helps with the integrity of sports and that the number of incidents regarding cheating have been minimal. Overseas there are clear rules that players, and coaches or their families are not allowed to wager on games in which they are involved.The issue will be resolved eventually hopefully to the advantage of the players and spectators alike. With the reduction of sponsors for so many sports activities, online gambling operators may be the only way some of these much loved events survive, so it's off to the courts once again.

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