SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Sportium has become Manchester City’s latest sports betting partner, in a regional agreement focused on Latin American markets.
As theofficial Latin American betting partner of the side, the Spanish company will receive digital and in-stadia branded assets at the Etihad Stadium, whilst co-branded content will be produced for its customers in the region.
The deal is the Premier League club’s third of 2022, following a Europe and Canada-oriented agreement with LeoVegas and an Asia-focused partnership with 8XBet, signed in July and September respectively.
Alberto Eljarrat, Sportium CEO, said: “Our brand has always been linked up to top competitions and major sports clubs. But this collaboration with Manchester City, implies a new step forward for Sportium in our internationalisation journey.
“We feel we share great values with the club, such as effort, integrity and teamwork, and we aim to bring these values to those Spanish speaking geographies where we are present with our unique omnichannel entertainment offering.”
Sportium is active in Latin American markets such as Colombia, whilst in the brand’s home market of Spain it has secured visibility via seven years of sponsoring LaLiga and signing brand ambassador deals with several players.
The deal marks the company’s first in the English top-flight, where a ban on shirt sponsorship deals between betting operators and clubs has been long touted as a likely outcome of the 2005 Gambling Act review.
However, regional international partnerships such as Sportium-Manchester City would not be impacted by such a ban, the enforcement of which by the UK government is unclear after multiple delays to the publication of the review White Paper.
“We are pleased to welcome Sportium as a new regional partner of Manchester City today,” Dina Ahmad, City Football Group’s Vice President of Partnership Sales, remarked.
“The new partnership not only allows us to build on our growth and reach new audiences in Latin America but bring them closer to the club through unique content and experiences and we look forward to working with Sportium to achieve this.”
