December 23 – Christmas has brought a timely boost for English Championship club Huddersfield Town, with BK8 signing on as the club’s Global Betting Partner for the remainder of the 2021/22 season.
In August BK8 secured five LaLiga club sponsorships for Asia for the new season – Valencia, Athletic Club de Bilbao, Villarreal CF, RCD Mallorca and Elche.
The Huddersfield Town deal will be the only club it has in England, but it isn’t for the want of trying.
At the start of the season BK8 announced a £5 million one year deal with Norwich City. That deal lasted just five days before it was cancelled after Norwich fans discovered an Instagram channel promoting services to Malaysian customers that promoted ‘sexy baccarat’ and suggestive images of hot dog swallowing contests.
Under the hashtag #hergametoo, fans complained that the soft porn images were offensive, degrading and against the club’s principles. The club cancelled the BK8 deal saying that it had “got it wrong”.
Huddersfield Town are not so concerned about the past indiscretions and believe BK8 have reformed their marketing.
Club chief executive Mark Devlin (pictured left) said: “We have spent a lot of time speaking to BK8 in order to understand their values.
“We’ve come to know the central team at BK8, and how they want to operate as a company. BK8 have made a lot of positive moves in recent months and their work with former England footballer Kelly Smith and her charity bears testimony to their efforts,” he continued.
“We’re confident that they have acted positively and will continue to contribute to grassroot football. Therefore, we are glad to enter into this partnership with BK8 which potentially could grow in the coming years.”
BK8’s European Managing Director, Michael Gatt (pictured right), emphasised the changes the company has made, saying: “We are absolutely delighted to have partner with Huddersfield Town as their Official Global Betting Partner and we are thrilled that they have been able to see the positive changes we have made as brand in recent months to make this possible. In fact we do have plans to work with Huddersfield in some grassroots activation in coming months.”
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