Premier League clubs face a substantial loss of income because of action by the gambling regulator on online betting operators that use the league’s international popularity to promote their websites to Asian audiences.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Liverpool are among a number of top clubs that have sponsorship deals with online operators that take very few bets from UK customers but benefit from the Premier League’s popularity in Asian betting markets.
Premier League clubs face a substantial loss of income because of action by the gambling regulator on online betting operators that use the league’s international popularity to promote their websites to Asian audiences.
Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton and Liverpool are among a number of top clubs that have sponsorship deals with online operators that take very few bets from UK customers but benefit from the Premier League’s popularity in Asian betting markets.
One such company is Dafavet which sponsors Aston Villa’s shirts. Others such as 188Bet pay clubs for perimeter advertising at home matches but often in Asian languages to win business from people watching overseas.
The Gambling Commission has now ruled that from August it would grant UK licences to operators that are ‘a British-facing business’. A spokesman for SBOBet claimed that this lead to a loss of marketing spending of between £60m and £90m on Premier League clubs, although this may be an exaggerated figure.