Why are more and more betting companies sponsoring sports?

According to tradition, people were already betting on the outcome of competitions in ancient Greece. Especially around the Olympic Games, which took place every four years since 776 BC. Betting on horse races has been known since the 16th century and today enjoys an excellent international reputation. In 1921, the betting game Toto was introduced in England, which after the war also found its way into Central Europe and made the most popular sport, football, a betting object.

For the providers of sports betting, the serious inclusion in the world of sports is of great importance, after all, in this environment they find not only suitable customers, but also a large number of potential customers. In particular, it is very important for the industry to be accepted by society. Sports sponsorship was therefore soon an obvious choice, as it usefully links gambling with sport by promoting sport through gambling.

Sponsoring today

Sponsorship brings many advantages. When a reputable casino sponsors a 100 € bonus without deposit offers, then that attracts new players. However, if the casino is the sponsor of an athlete or sports team, it reaches far more people. The sponsored party, on the other hand, benefits from the sponsor's financial support. The numerous sponsorship agreements show that the calculation works out for both sides in the end.

Today, there is no major soccer match where advertising banners of brands and companies cannot be seen. Even at press conferences, advertising banners are placed in the background, and sometimes stadiums or even leagues are named after the sponsor through title sponsorship. Athletes often enough walk around as living billboard columns, often covered with the logos of their sponsor partners on trainers and jerseys. No successful top athlete, no club that wants to be at the top, no league that wants to be successful can do without sponsorship today. The sponsor's commitment consists not only of financial support, but also of supplying the athlete with top-quality equipment and the transfer of know-how and supporting personnel - think, for example, of alpine skiing or motor sports. Society has long since become accustomed to this form of support for sport. This exchange between financial support from the sponsors on the one hand and the image transfer of the reputable sports club or the successful athlete to the image of the sponsor and the increase of its awareness on the other hand is the basis of this constructive cooperation.

In Germany, investment in sports sponsorship grew from €1.5 billion to €3.8 billion between 2000 and 2020. In the EMEA region (Europe-Arabia-Africa), sales in 2020 from sports sponsorship amounted to $ 15.16 billion, while sales from global sports events totaled €81 billion. You can see the market for sports sponsorship is huge and growing constantly. In addition, there are nowadays numerous platforms on which investors and athletes or sports clubs can meet, according to the motto "athlete seeks investor" or "sponsor seeks athlete".

Betting providers and casinos also fall into the category of sponsors. Just like other sponsors, they have a great interest in reaching as many people as possible, becoming better known and gaining a reputable image. Through such marketing activities, they reach people they would otherwise have difficulty or difficulty reaching, such as soccer fans in stadiums. For these spectators, sports betting could be not only interesting but also exciting and enhance the sports experience.

The tradition of sponsors in professional sports

Today, sponsorship is an essential source of funding for sports, making teams, individual athletes, clubs and even leagues competitive in the first place. As early as the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, the manufacturer Kodak (cameras, films) recognized the potential of sponsorship. For a long time, however, sports sponsorship was not socially recognized or established. Athletes, clubs and the media still resisted this new form of advertising. The accusation that sponsorship was just surreptitious advertising persisted for a long time. But over time, the benefits in sports were recognized. For example, on March 24, 1973, the Eintracht Braunschweig soccer club provided an Revolution in the sports world. It was the first club to have its players appear on the pitch wearing a sponsor's shirt, despite the fact that the DFB (German Football Association) had previously expressly forbidden it. With this, sports sponsorship was probably unstoppable.

Sports sponsorship today

Today, sponsorship is an important part of sports and a significant economic factor. The best-known sponsors in German professional sports include:

• Adidas
• TipBet
• Audi
• Nike
• Red Bull
• Coca-Cola
• German Telekom
• Interwetten
• Lufthansa
• Rewe
• Alliance
• German Post/DHL
• Sky
• Paulaner

Through sponsorships, the following are generated annually in Germany Around 3 billion euros in circulation. So it's no wonder that sponsorship is an essential area of communication and marketing for many brands and companies.

Amateur clubs can also benefit

Especially in the German Bundesliga, very lucrative contracts exist. The sports clubs are promoted and supported with several million euros, whereas the sponsor is marketed accordingly extensively. But sponsorship is also interesting for smaller clubs from amateur sports. These in particular benefit considerably from outside support.

This can involve perimeter advertising for the home stadium, but also the naming rights for the entire stadium. Classic jersey advertising is also conceivable. Although the advertising effect for the sponsors is not that great at first glance, it can still be lucrative. If a provider promotes a local sports club, helps it to get ahead and offers support, this ensures a good reputation.

Betting providers and casinos as sponsors

For its part, the market for betting providers and casinos is growing steadily, achieving billions in high revenues every year, and the trend is upward. However, something else is changing in the German gambling market besides sales: the reputation of the gambling industry. The days are gone when gambling had a dubious reputation or people sat in smoky arcades. Today, anyone who bets chooses a reputable casino or sports betting provider. They don't even have to leave the house to do so.

Fans of sports betting also have some interest in sports or are fans of a team. Without a doubt, soccer is the most popular sport in the world and the betting market is the biggest. But the trend of betting on more unknown games and players is becoming more and more established among betting professionals. Suddenly, for example, the World Table Tennis Championship got attention from people who never had interest in this sport before.

It is therefore understandable that betting providers and casinos act as sponsors in sports. The similarities between sports and gaming are there and the target group has many things in common: The thrill of watching a game, the desire to win, and the frustration when a defeat has to be endured.

Despite legalization in 2021, betting providers and online casinos still have a dubious reputation in some places. Gambling was demonized for many years, and was even banned in land-based casinos in some places. Through sponsoring and the advertising measures, people can and should be convinced that the gambling industry has become reputable.

The gambling industry has a serious interest in promoting sports through sponsorship: not only does it gain awareness and numerous new customers, but it is also increasingly gaining the social acceptance it needs to be successful in the long term. So anyone who comes across a web address of a sports betting provider in a stadium or on posters should perhaps call up the website and try their luck. In sports betting, what counts is expertise, a good knowledge of the league and its teams, but also a bit of luck, because you can't do it without luck. And who knows, maybe there's even some luck in cash at the end.