SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Norwich City has unveiled online betting and gaming brand BK8 Sports as the newly-promoted Premier League side’s principal partner for the 2021/22 season.
Through the deal, a bespoke colourway of the BK8 logo will feature as the new front-of-shirt sponsor on both the Canaries’ first team match and training kits.
According to a joint statement, the two parties have ‘a broad range of engaging and powerful activations’ lined up for over the course of the partnership which covers Norwich’s upcoming Premier League campaign.
Ben Kensell, Chief Operating Officer at Norwich City, explained: “BK8 will undoubtedly be a new brand for City fans, however, they’re a well trusted name across Asia. The Premier League has an accumulative TV audience of over three billion and is broadcast into over a billion homes – a huge proportion of these Premier League fans are based in Asia.
“Supporting BK8 in marketing to this global Premier League fanbase equally affords us as a club the opportunity to further our own exposure and commercial efforts into those markets.
“Both the club and BK8 are committed to supporting the ongoing review into betting and sports sponsorship. The club continues to adhere to both an internal code of conduct, as well as the policies and guidelines put in place by the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) when carrying out marketing campaigns with betting and gaming brands.”
Kensell added that whilst the industry continues to provide ‘a valuable source of revenue to the club’, the deal will make a ‘meaningful difference’ to the club’s ‘wider objectives’ amid the UK government’s ongoing review of the Gambling Act.
In addition, as part of the arrangement, former Norwich City midfielder and Canaries legend Darren Eadie has joined BK8 as a brand spokesperson to drive engagement and support the global development of the business.
“BK8 shares the club’s aspiration to seek continuous improvement,” the 45-year-old added. “It is the undying desire to achieve greater heights in an unforgiving environment that brought us together. We’re all really looking forward to the season ahead with Norwich City back where they belong, in the top-flight.”
BK8 Sports already hold a strong position within the Asian betting market, having launched its cryptocurrency payment gateway to support digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDT in 2020.
Salauddin Sinnakandu is the CEO of Outlast Sports and Entertainment, which brought the two organisations together. “The synergy between the two brands and the voracious appetite to engage the supporters in Asia meant it was a no brainer to bring them together and to later help build activation programmes in the region for both brands,” he said.
