SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Belgian Pro League team RSC Anderlecht has signed a partnership with Napoleon Sports for the next four seasons.
Through activating the deal, the online casino will gain visibility on the sleeves of the team kit. The collaboration also means that the club will be able to focus on investing in the stadium experience of its supporters.
Napoleon Sports CEO Eamonn O’Loughlin stated: “We are extremely pleased and honoured to become one of RSC Anderlecht’s key corporate partners for both the men’s and women’s teams.
“We are proud to support this legendary club and its fantastic supporters for the next four years. Like RSCA, Napoleon stands for entertainment, excitement, thrills and unforgettable moments. We want to experience those thrills together with all the fans.”
The Brussels-based club has also asserted that the partnership will ‘strengthen RSCA’s position as a premium entertainment company in the Belgian football landscape’.
“We are pleased to welcome Napoleon Sports as an important partner for the coming years,” added CEO Non-Sports Kenneth Bornauw.
“RSC Anderlecht is and remains the football brand with the biggest reach in Belgium, and during our discussions with Napoleon Sports, it became quite clear that the two partners can strengthen each other and their ambitions for the future.”
In the 2018-2019 season, Cercle Brugge – another Belgian Pro League side – also entered into a partnership with Napoleon Sports, which was recently extended for two more years.
The partnership comes at a time of discussions in the country of the betting industry’s links with sports. Vincent Van Quickenborn, Justice Minister, recently proposed a Royal Decree which would ban most forms of advertising by the end of the year and all marketing in sports by the end of 2024.
This would include a ban on free demonstration games, advertising in printed media, posters in public places, personalised advertising by post or ‘digital means’, and marketing across TV, radio, cinemas, websites, digital channels, social media platforms, magazines and newspapers.
‘Gambling – all the numbers point to an explosion with all the consequences for addiction – is the new smoking,” Van Quickenborne said, pointing to changes in other European countries as partly inspiring the ban, although the notion has been debated in Belgium for some time.
“Belgium is following the international trend. Italy and Spain have implemented a complete advertising ban and the Netherlands and the UK are working on similar rules.”
