SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Kaizen Gaming’s Betano sportsbook subsidiary has taken legal action against Portugal’s Professional Football League (LPFP) in light of not securing the naming rights of Liga Portugal.
Betano had been favourites to replace telecom operator NOS as title sponsor of Liga Portugal, having agreed terms with the LPFP on a four-year sponsorship deal valued at €5.5 million per season.
However, last Friday the LPFP announced that Entain Plc’s European sportsbook Bwin had secured the naming rights sponsorship for the next five Liga Portugal seasons.
Betano issued an immediate response to Portuguese media and football clubs, stating that the LPFP had ‘unilaterally broken an agreed contract’.
The bookmaker said that it had begun negotiations with LPFP in September 2020, when NOS informed Liga Portugal that it would not conclude the final year of its sponsorship duties – allowing the LPFP to enter negotiations for a new naming partner of Liga Portugal.
Addressing Portuguese media, Betano stated its disbelief that the LPFP would break an agreement it had formally agreed-on, for which the sponsor had already prepared its marketing campaigns and activity as Liga Portugal’s principal partner.
The naming rights sponsorship had been earmarked to play a central role in Betano’s Portuguese market strategy, a marketplace the Kaizen betting brand has operated in since 2019.
During Q1 trading, Entain formally secured its €60 million acquisition of Portuguese licensed sportsbook Bet.pt – a deal allowing the FTSE betting group to relaunch its flagship European sportsbook Bwin within Portugal.
