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❗️Part 5 of 6: Did you know that in the UK, football and horse-racing are the two most popular sports that UK online gamblers bet on? Football betting, especially in the English Premier League (EPL), is huge and competitive. The English Premier League has attracted sponsorship deals with gaming companies making it an important source of income for the team. Over the past few years, partnerships between betting companies and Premier League clubs have become much more common. In 2018 betting companies spent circa £500m on sponsorship contracts with EPL clubs and brand ambassador deals with football players. The record sponsorship deal between a football club and a gambling company for front-of-shirt advertising was made between West Ham United and the online betting company Betway. It lasted between 2015 until 2019 and reportedly gross the club a whopping £60m. Then growing concerns over the prevalence of gambling sponsorships in football led to increased public and political pressure. The UK government began reviewing gambling regulations, and there were calls from various advocacy groups to ban gambling advertisements in sports. In 2023, the Premier League announced that its clubs had voluntarily agreed to remove gambling sponsors from the front of their shirts. However, this ban was set to take full effect at the end of the 2025/2026 season, giving clubs time to transition away from existing deals. Importantly, this agreement only applies to the front-of-shirt sponsorships, meaning gambling companies can still be featured in other areas, such as on shirt sleeves or in stadium advertising. What are your thoughts - How do you think these restrictions will affect the betting industry? For more insights on gambling taxation in the UK, follow us @steelrose_legal and check out part 6 of our series. //www.gambleaware.org GambleAware Nikita Lazarev SPORTLAZ UEFA Champions League FIFA FIFA World Cup 2026™ - Canada, Mexico and the United States LALIGA bet365 WilliamHill Ladbroke Hall English Premier League West Ham United FC Our Standard T&Cs apply To be continued in the comments below 👇 #GamingLaw #uklawfirm #legalcompliance #lawsociety #lawservices #gaming #gamblinglaw #GamingRegulation #LegalGaming #GamingCompliance #GamingLegislation #RegulatoryCompliance #BettingRegulations #GamingLegalAdvice #ResponsibleGaming #FootballBetting #HorseRacing #Compliance #LegalBetting #SmartWagering #footballadvertising #football #responsiblefootballbetting

February was a quieter, but interesting month of sports M&A activity, with Deloitte’s M&A team research identifying around 10 transactions involving rightsholders. Here are a few observations from February’s market activity: Latest rugby league-level investment 🏉 With Six Nations well underway it’s only right to highlight Rugby Union’s continued investor appeal, with South Africa Rugby (SAR) the latest recipient. 🤝 SAR has established a new commercial entity with Ackerley Sports Group holding a 20% stake in the new entity. 📅 This follows investments in Rugby Australia (2023), New Zealand Rugby (2022), Six Nations Rugby (2021), URC (2020) and Premiership Rugby (2018).   MCO warning 💭 As MCO numbers continue to grow at pace, there will be considerable learnings from the success and failure of such models. 🔻 Esbjerg fB, a Danish third-tier club operating within an MCO, unfortunately entered administration in February. Following acquisition in 2021, EFB was subsequently relegated to the third tier (for the first time in 28 years) in 2022. ⚠ It is critical that investors are responsible and take the time to create robust MCO strategies prior to commencing such models to protect important community assets and their financial investments.   Spades in the ground ⚽ In the 2024 Deloitte Football Money League, we highlighted that clubs are actively exploring the levers available to achieve commercial growth, with the enhancement and greater use of stadia a key option. 🏟 February saw investments focused on this at two leading European clubs, Manchester United (investing a further $300m for infrastructure improvements) and FC Porto (“major external investment of up to €70m”, including a stake in a entity with commercial rights of FC Porto). Scottish Spotlight 💸 In the UK, football M&A activity has largely been concentrated to England via investments in the EPL and EFL, however investor interest appears to be making its way to Scotland. 👀 February has seen Black Knight football acquire a 25% stake in Hibernian for a reported £6m, whilst the current St. Johnstone owner has indicated it is close to a sale to a US investment group. ⚽ Transactions have been few are far between in Scottish football, with the most high-profile recent transactions being Hearts (now fan-owned, 2021) and Aberdeen (Atlanta United, 2019). 📹 Scottish football significantly trails the English game in respect of media rights, with its domestic deal (to 2024/25) with Sky worth £30m p.a., compared to the EPL (£1.7bn p.a.) and EFL (c.£180m p.a.) (latest agreed deals). Read some of our latest analysis of the opportunities these trends present to investors, and the wider industry, in the links below. And please reach out if you are in or exploring the sports M&A market, I would love to chat! #deloitte #sports #manda  #DeloitteinSports

Are the Springboks for Sale? 🇿🇦 Not entirely. However, there is strong interest in investing in their commercial rights, signaling a pivotal shift in South African rugby. The original deal 🇺🇸 In December 2023, SARU selected Ackerley Sports Group (“ASG”), a U.S.-based private equity firm, as the preferred bidder to acquire a 20% stake in SARU’s commercial rights. Valued at around ZAR1.4bn, this deal implied a total valuation of approximately USD378m for South African rugby’s commercial operations. ASG’s exclusivity period to negotiate ends in December 2024. While the deal was inspired by a similar partnership between New Zealand Rugby and private equity in 2022, the ASG proposal failed to garner the 75% approval from SARU’s 13-member unions required for adoption. Seven unions opposed the proposal, citing concerns over governance and strategic alignment. What’s Happening Now? A South African consortium comprising asset managers, private equity firms, and commercialization experts has emerged as a strong alternative. This group, which includes AltVest Capital, RainFin (Pty) Ltd, 27four Investment Managers and EasyEquities, values the Springboks’ brand at USD375m (c. ZAR6.8bn) and aims to acquire up to 40% of SARU’s commercial rights. The proposed structure ensures SARU retains majority ownership and control, aligning with objectives of transformation, financial sustainability, and global brand enhancement. Key features include: Retail Distribution: Partnerships with platforms like EasyEquities, including tokenized investment options. Institutional Distribution: Managed by firms like 27four Investment Managers to attract high-net-worth investors and institutional funds. Governance Oversight: SARU will maintain strategic oversight to ensure alignment with national rugby goals. Why It Matters: With back-to-back World Cup victories (2019, 2023), the Springboks’ commercial value has never been higher. Monetizing this success could secure the financial future of South African rugby while addressing longstanding issues like inclusivity and transformation. However, private equity in sports often raises concerns over governance, profit motives, and the commercialization of national heritage. The consortium’s focus on local involvement and inclusivity may be the answer to balancing financial growth with national pride. Next Steps: 1. A formal letter of interest will be submitted to SARU. 2. Comprehensive due diligence will be conducted by the consortium. My Opinion: Let’s keep SARU locally owned because #localislekker. A partnership with local experts not only preserves the Springboks’ national identity but ensures that the benefits of their success are reinvested into South African rugby and its communities. Sources: News24 Business, Africa M&A Intelligence, EWN, AltVest Capital

How would a crackdown on gambling advertising impact the sponsorship industry? In short, it would hurt some more than others... Read our take here: https://lnkd.in/gauwSrng Whilst short-term regulatory changes to gambling advertising are looking likely to be minor, public sentiment and bi-partisan alignment mean that it is only a matter of time before significant reforms are put in place. QLD and NSW sports organisations are at highest risk of revenue loss, particularly those in Rugby League and (to a lesser extent) AFL. Gambling is the highest spending category in QLD and NSW, at 9% and 5% of all spend respectively. More than half of all QLD-based clubs and a third of all NSW-based clubs have a major gambling partner. Should these clubs look to de-risk through category realignment? https://lnkd.in/gauwSrng Analyst Economy Mark Isaacs Alexander MacAdie #sportsbiz #sportssponsortship #advertising #sport #marketing

Really interesting report from Fair Game UK on the best run football clubs in the country with Tottenham Hotspur Football Club coming out as no.1.   The report evaluates every club in from the Premier League to the National League on their financial sustainability, governance, fan and community engagement & equality and ethical standards.   My key takeaways: ⚽ Half the clubs in the top ten best run clubs (Cambridge, Norwich, Swansea, Exeter, AFC Wimbledon) sit outside the top division. ⚽ The Premier League has a lot to learn from their lower league counterparts on Fan and Community Engagement. ⚽ Three of the four winners of the these categories, are football league clubs: Financial sustainability (Bolton), Governance (Norwich), Fan and community engagement (AFC Wimbledon) & Equality and ethical standards (Spurs).  ⚽ A lot of change is needed in Equality and Ethical Standards with 90% of clubs falling below the required standard.   I've read a lot of football report over the years and never seen a report covering over 200 clubs across the country. Well worth a look. #SportsMarketing #Sports #digitalmarketing #digital

Scotch Whisky Sponsorship and Sport? It's enough to give those wonderful folk at the Scottish Parliament, a hairy canary. However, for a global-player, Football team, somone that already has erm...'Visit Rwanda' on their Strip (yes, honestly) is Booze Sponsorship really that awful? Top Football teams in England took to the pitch, in Season 23/24, with Strips emblazoned with very dubious, Chinese Internet Domain Names, that didn't actually work, or relied on very dubious 'Betting' Sponsorships. Some 'Sponsorship' deals, Clubs would rather not talk about, here's a real, tangible one, that you actually can! We all know about the extremely murky world of 'points deduction' for 'Financial Discrepancies' that may, or may not, have happened. What's right or wrong? If you also look at myriad OWNERS, perhaps Booze Sponsorship is a bit odd, considering who they are and where they're from? However, in the bonkers world of Sports Sponsorship, it probably best to take a: 'if you can't beat them, join them' stance! It's also a chance to educate, about #DrinkLessDrinkBetter Scotch Whisky. #ScotchWhiskyTruths

📢 The Premier League rights holders❗ caytoo has identified the sectors most likely to sponsor Premier League club rights, through analysis of ~4,000 sponsorship deals since the start of 2023 to establish current trends🏆 ⚽ In terms of simple volume of deals, Gambling leads the way at 9.2% of deals However, Gambling also ranks highly in other rights holder fields such as Equestrian, Cricket and Basketball So our analysis goes one step further to find out how likely a sector is to do a deal within the Premier League, when compared with any other rights holder field... ❕❗ Investment/Trading brands are 4.7x more likely to sponsor a rights holder in the English Premier League 💰 That is, although Investment/Trading firms do less sponsorship here than Gambling firms, they are the more likely to choose Premier League rights compared to rights in any other field. This means the level of competition for a Premier League rights holder approaching this sector is less Investment/Trading deals have been dominated by online trading brands, led by eToro, alongside the likes of Trade Nation, Uphold, TMGM, Axi and Corporate Finance Institute® (CFI). These tend to be ‘Official Trading Partner’ deals The 'investment' side of the equation includes the likes of Strategic Solutions Financial Services and PensionBee Investment/Trading is a rich seam for Premier League rights holders to mine, with a high likelihood of succeeding in this sector compared to any other type of rights holder If you're a Premier League team without an Official Trading Partner, you know where to look next! 😉 And if you already have one, our insights don't stop there... Interested in the Top 15 sectors most likely to sponsor the Premier League? Get in touch with Alex Burmaster Or 👉 https://lnkd.in/egMijRCs Arsenal F.C Aston Villa Football Club AFC Bournemouth Brentford Football Club Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club Burnley Football Club Chelsea Football Club Crystal Palace Football Club Everton Football Club Fulham Football Club Liverpool Football Club Luton Town Football Club Manchester City Football Club Manchester United Newcastle United Football Club Nottingham Forest FC Sheffield United Football Club Tottenham Hotspur Football Club West Ham United FC Wolverhampton Wanderers

Going Out With A Bang! Despite a voluntary decision to ban front-of-shirt #sponsorship by #gambling companies in the future 2026/2027 season, more than half of England's Premier League clubs are sporting prominent #advertising by #betting and #iGaming firms -- conservatively worth some £60 million-a-year. The decision by the 11 of 20 #EPL clubs to wear the gaming logos follows blue chip William Hill's three-year sponsorship deal with the four-tier Scottish Professional Football League, #SPFL. The moves, not surprisingly, have caused consternation and condemnation by anti-gambling activists. But sponsors stress that both football and gaming are “legitimate and lawful leisure [activities] enjoyed by millions of people". #sportsbetting #Compliance #soccernews #footballnews #gamblingnews #gamblingindustry #integrity evoke Per Widerström bet365 BET365 GROUP LIMITED #iGF #iGamingFuture #insight #thebeautifulgame UEFA Champions League Guy Laurent Epstein Matt Zarb-Cousin #GAMBAN #cleanupgambling Neil Doncaster Stoke City Football Club Aston Villa Football Club Kaizan Betano AFC Bournemouth Dafabet 邓 杰 dj88vip Brentford Football Club Hollywoodbets; Crystal Palace Football Club #Net88 Everton Football Club #Drake Stake Fulham Football Club SBOTOP Leicester City Football Club BC.Game Nottingham Forest Kaiyun Esports Southampton Football Club Rollbit West Ham United FC Betway Group https://lnkd.in/dT5MMry4

Sponsorships are essential for many football clubs, providing vital revenue and corporate connections. But what happens when sponsors face financial difficulties? In our latest article, Marco Difato explores the risks, legal challenges, and protections that help clubs and sponsors navigate these agreements successfully. From grassroots to professional levels, our team offers expertise in player contracts, stadium agreements, and sponsorship deals. This article is also featured in the latest issue of Football & Stadium Management. Read more and see how we can help: https://lnkd.in/e4CVpbD7 #lawfirm #solicitors #efl #football #sportslaw #sponsorshipdeals #corporatelaw #contractlaw

The start of the 2024/25 The Premier League season is just around the corner, and clubs are unveiling their latest sponsorship deals. AFC Bournemouth recently announced their partnership with BJ88, making them the 11th club to feature a betting company as their front shirt sponsor. This comes even as the Premier League has committed to phasing out gambling sponsorships from matchday shirts starting at the end of the 2025/26 season, yet the majority of front shirt sponsors are still betting companies. While I understand the concerns about the potential negative impacts of betting on individuals, I also believe it's important to consider the broader picture. Betting companies have been a significant source of revenue for many clubs, providing essential funds that go beyond player salaries. These partnerships support the entire ecosystem of a club, from staff wages to community outreach programs. From my perspective, these sponsorships enable clubs to invest more in their infrastructure, youth development, and community projects. The reality is that football clubs often rely on these sponsorships to maintain and grow their operations, which can have positive ripple effects on local communities and economies. It's a complex issue with no easy answers, but it's crucial to acknowledge both sides of the debate. As we move towards a new era in sports sponsorship, finding a balanced approach that considers both ethical and financial implications will be key. Looking forward to a great season ahead! #Football #SportsSponsorship #PremierLeague #Business #Betting