August 3 – British online bookmaker Bet365 has snapped up half of LaLiga’s top division clubs in two-year sponsorship deals starting with the coming season which kicks off this weekend with the Spanish Super Cup between Barcelona and Sevilla being hosted in Morocco.
RCD Espanyol, Villarreal, Athletic Club, Real Betis, Getafe, SD Huesca, Celta Vigo, Rayo Vallecano, Real Valladolid and SD Éibar, have all signed with Bet365 whose previous involvement with Spanish football was sponsorship of Sky’s LaLiga coverage in the UK, but which Sky has now dropped.
Bet365’s logo will not feature on club shirts but will be branded on digital media as well as logo branding at press conferences and in-stadia, and promoted via club social networks.
The Spanish club market for betting sponsors has been active in recent weeks with Betway securing deals with Levante, CD Leganes, and Deportivo Alaves, Bwin renewing its contracts with Atletico Madrid and Valencia, and Girona signing a club record breaking shirt sponsorship deal with Marathonbet. Barcelona and Real Madrid have betting partnerships with Betfair and Codere.
Bet365 was founded in 2000 by the Coates family which has owned Stokes City – relegated from the Premier League last season – since 1989. The betting firm is the club’s main sponsor with its logo on the front of the club shirt.
In 2016, online betting companies invested an estimate €138 million (£123m; $160m) in sponsorships in Spain, not including money spent on TV marketing, social media, or billboards. That figure will be considerably larger now as the Spanish gaming business has boomed, despite a series of match-fixing scandals in the second and third tiers of LaLiga.
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