Ghanaian clubs following English Premier League sides into sports betting industry
Ten of the twenty English Premier League clubs have betting and gambling companies as their main shirt sponsors this season and Ghanaian clubs are following suit.
That is the biggest ever presence of betting companies logos on the English Premier League team shirts, surpassing last season's record of seven teams and this season in Ghana the number has risen to two with Supabets with Kotoko while Betway have taken AshGold shirt space.
With more than ten sporting betting companies in Ghana springing up over the past few years following the example in England, Ghanaians clubs will surely follow in the path of the EPL.
Fulham were the first club to feature a betting company on their shirt, that happened in the 2002/2003 season when they signed a deal with Betfair.
The 2005 Gambling Act made gambling advertising on television legal for both UK and offshore gambling companies and since then more and more Premier League teams were able to receive sponsorships from companies in the online betting industry.
Then, the new Gambling Act issued in 2014 ruled that betting companies needed a UK gambling licence and must pay a 15 per cent tax on profits from UK customers if they sponsor a team in the country. That made it a bit more difficult for foreign companies, but not impossible.
Kenyan betting operator SportPesa is now the main shirt sponsor at Hull City, Chinese online casino UK-K8 is sponsoring West Brom, while Dafabet, an online casino and sports betting operator based in Philippines, is sponsoring both Sunderland and Burnley.
The Premier League clubs attract more money from sponsorships than any of the other top five leagues in Europe, almost double than the second-placed German Bundesliga. The current betting companies that have shirt sponsorship deals with Premier League clubs, ranked by annual contract value:
Betway (online sports betting) - West Ham United, 6 million pounds per year.
Dafabet (online casino and sports betting) - Sunderland, 6 million pounds per year.
BETEAST (online casino and sports betting) - Swansea, 5 million pounds per year.
Mansion Group (online casino and sports betting) - Crystal Palace, 5 million pounds per year.
Bet365 (online sports betting) - Stoke City, 3.5 million pounds per year.
SportPesa (online sports betting) - Hull City, 3 million pounds per year.
UK-K8.com (online casino) - West Bromwich Albion, 2.8 million pounds per year.
Dafabet (online casino and sports betting) - Burnley, 2 million pounds per year.
Mansion Group (online casino and sports betting) - Bournemouth, 2 million pounds per year.
138.com (online casino and sports betting) - Watford, 1 million pounds per year.
As you can see, none of the Premier League clubs have betting companies as their main shirt sponsors. That is because companies in this sector can not yet compete with multi-national giants like General Motors, who have their Chevrolet brand featured on Manchester United's shirts for no less than 53 million pounds per year.
But Manchester United, and all the other clubs in the league, also have sponsors in the betting industry.
The Red Devils have signed a deal with Marathonbet, who became their official global betting partner.
Football is currently the most popular sport for bettors after horse racing, and the Premier League is the competition with the most fans around the globe.
As a result of those two facts, the betting and gambling industry is now the fifth biggest investor in the Premier League behind sporting goods companies, financial services provides, airlines and automotive companies.