Many football teams around the world are sponsored by sports betting sites, and West Ham are one of those many teams. Since 2015, they have been sponsored by Betway, who happen to be one of the most well-known and popular sportsbooks on the planet. In this article, we are going to take a look at how their relationship began, how it blossomed, why Betway is a good bookie to bet with, and what difficulties they face given new government gambling legislation.
West Ham’s New Relationship with Betway in 2015
Before they became sponsored by Betway, West Ham were sponsored by Alpari, a Swiss company. However, at the start of 2015, Alpari went into liquidation, meaning that they the London-based club were left without any type of sponsor. It did not take West Ham long though to strike up a three and a half year £20 million deal with Betway, which became West Ham’s biggest ever commercial deal. To put it into some perspective, the deal that they had with Alpari was worth “just” £3 million a year.
Karen Brady, who is the vice-chair at West Ham announced the deal and stated that they had other options available to them, but they decided to go with Betway because they are ambitious and forward-thinking, which is exactly what West Ham are. She went on to say that the fact that a sports betting site as big as Betway wanted to team up with them was indicative of just how big West Ham are becoming in the football world.
So, what is it is that makes Betway such a big sportsbook that has millions of customers from all over the world? Well, to start with, they offer plenty of markets for all of the sports that they have available on their site. Variety is important when it comes to sports betting as this is what ensures that you do not end up getting bored. Can you imagine how boring things would get if you could only bet on the match winner in a football match?
As well as a variety of markets, they are also not afraid to offer their players very competitive odds for the markets that they have on offer. It is always wise to sign up with a bookie that offers competitive odds because this ensures that you get plenty of bang for your buck. Additionally, they have a pretty solid Welcome Bonus and are more than happy to offer their regular players frequent enticing bonuses and free bets. If you want to find out even more about this sports betting site, then you can find an in-depth review on it at https://www.betinireland.ie/. You can also find reviews for all of the other biggest and best sports betting sites out there.
A Contract Extension That is Worth Even More
Their first contract with Betway ran out in 2019, but neither party had any objection with renewing it. They came to a six-year deal that is believed to be worth an estimated £10 million per year – almost double of what they were getting each year with the previous deal. The fact that Betway were more than happy to pay out even more money to carry on sponsoring West Ham shows that they have become even bigger in the football world.
In fact, this £60 million deal happens to be the biggest sponsorship deal in the Premier League outside of the top six. Although, it must be said that the deals that the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool have absolutely dwarf this. For example, the sponsorship deal that Liverpool have with Standard Chartered stands at £160 million over the course of four seasons.
Deal Could Be Hit by New UK Government Gambling Laws
West Ham’s and Betway’s sponsorship partnership could be affected by new UK legislation regarding gambling. The government are considering implementing a law that would see betting advertising banned in all sports in order to protect children and decrease the numbers of problem gamblers. This would mean that clubs would no longer be able to have gambling companies on their shirts and the pitch side hoardings and TV commercials would also not be able to have gambling companies on them.
As things stand, it is estimated that this law will come into place at some stage in 2023, and clubs will have no option but to abide by the regulations. It is not yet known how this legislation will impact the current agreement that they have with Betway. However, since Betway would cease to get anything out of the agreement, it is highly likely that they will want to terminate the contract. After all, why would they want to spend millions every year when nobody is going to see their name on a West Ham shirt whenever they take to the field?
This would not be the first time that West Ham have had to remove Betway from their kits. They recently played in Croatia in the Europa League and were forced to play in kits with the gambling company’s name removed from them due to gambling legislations in the Balkan country. Betway obviously would not have been happy with that, but at least it was a temporary thing, and they had their name back on their shirt for their next match in the English Premier League. We will just have to wait and see what happens should these new UK gambling legislations come into play in a little over a year.
