Following a public relations disaster, Norwich City FC has terminated its extremely short-lived sponsorship deal with online bookmaker BK8 Sports. 

The partnership, which was only announced a week ago today, instantly descended into farce when fans discovered BK8 had been using “sexually provocative” social media marketing – something that did not “align with the wider vision and values” of the club. 

In a statement, Norwich City said: “The club and BK8 have taken on board feedback from its supporters and partners, and after continued discussions we have agreed to immediately end the partnership.”

While Ben Kensell, chief operating officer of Norwich City, added: “We have worked hard to build trust and engagement through our countless initiatives with our supporters and partners. We place huge value on our open and honest relationships with our community and supporters.

“As a self-financed club there is always a fine balance between generating the revenue levels required to help maintain that model, whilst working within our visions and values. On this occasion, we made an error of judgement. Our standards were not at the levels we demand of our football club.

“We can now only apologise to our supporters and former players, Grant Holt and Darren Eadie, who were across the BK8 promotional launch campaign, for any offence caused.

“We remain highly committed to diversity and equality across our football club and its community. We want to continue to embed a highly inclusive culture across the club, together with an accessible and welcoming environment free of demeaning and discriminatory behaviours.”

AYO.NEWS says:

With this kind of debacle becoming increasingly common, whether it’s sports/esports clubs associating themselves with dodgy betting operators, or organisations getting chummy with dodgy regimes, one has to ask who the hell is advising these people?

New UK operator Racing Stars has launched its novel new betting platform after receiving a license from the Gambling Commission. 

The startup, which was oversubscribed in its seed funding round, was founded by Nathan Thompson, Danny Williams, and Steven Evans, is aiming to tackle problem gambling through a unique approach. 

Racing Stars has been described by its founders as “the first fantasy league horse betting platform based on real races and real prizes,” and uses a unique point scoring system that converts starting odds to points – so the higher the odds on your horse, the more points it will earn you. This means that players are always in the running, with just one win enabling a rank outsider to take the top sport. 

RacingStars.co.uk only allows users to place one bet per day, subject to a low limit – putting entertainment firmly ahead of large stakes, in a move that could send significant ripples through the industry. 

Its founders say that, because the system has a set spend, everyone is playing to their means, all punters are level, and it’s “impossible to spend more on it than you can afford.” Also, because a bet lasts for a whole day of racing, and players retain a chance of winning until the last race finishes, there is no need for anyone to chase losses. 

Though Racing Stars is initially offering horse racing only, its founders say they are hoping to expand into other sports, including Formula 1 and greyhound racing, and eventually launch the platform in markets beyond the UK. 

AYO.NEWS says:

This is certainly an interesting approach to balancing the entertainment value of sports betting with the need to tackle problem gambling. On the surface it looks like it would appeal to a lot of casual bettors, but the question is, will it be financially viable for the operator in the long-term? We’ll definitely be watching this…

With tax revenues plummeting due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the Kenyan government has once again targeted the country’s betting industry with a punitive tax.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary, Ukur Yattani, has reintroduced the eye-watering 20% excise duty on wagers that had been abandoned in July last year after causing betting operators, including SportPesa and Betin, to withdraw from the market – triggering a financial crisis for the country’s sports clubs.

At the time, betting operators and sports clubs depending on betting sponsorships, argued that the nature of the tax showed the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) had no real understanding of gambling, even at the most fundamental level. Despite this, the KRA stubbornly refused to budge for months, and at one point suspended the licenses of 27 sports betting operators. 

However, with the Kenyan economy taking an unprecedented hammering from the COVID-19 pandemic, the government appears desperate for any source of revenue and is once again ignoring the long term viability of its sports industry. 

In response, Kenya’s two biggest football clubs, AFC Leopards and Gor Mahia, have released a strongly worded statement opposing the new tax, saying: “The enactment of the 20% excise tax will unequivocally rule out continued sponsorship of football clubs across all tiers (National Super League, Division 1 and County Leagues), with the net effect of rendering the operations of most of the league teams unsustainable. The tax proposal is ill-timed and makes a strong appeal to the government and members of parliament to make special considerations on this exigent matter and give the sports fraternity a fighting chance during these difficult times.”

The chairman of both clubs pointed to the fact that betting operators have ploughed Sh1.6bn (approx. $14.8M USD) into Kenyan football between 2016 and 2020 – indeed, BetKing is currently the main sponsor of the country’s Premier League. . 

AYO.NEWS says:

As we’ve seen in other countries, in times of crisis, the gambling industry is seen as an easy target by politicians who are desperate to detract attention from their own incompetence. 

It’s quite clear to anyone capable of basic maths (so, that rules the KRA out), that a 20% tax on wagers will make the market unviable for most operators. This will cause operators to abandon the market, clubs and leagues to lose sponsorships, and bettors to turn to the unregulated black market. 

The end result: less tax revenue for the government, insolvent sports clubs and leagues, and no protection for punters. 

Smart move Kenyan government, real smart.

Kindred Group’s Unibet brand has launched BetShare, a tool that allows players to customise the look and feel of their betslip, so that they can share it on social media. 

BetShare is launching across the majority of the group’s markets to coincide with the kick off of the Euros. 

Erik Bäcklund, Chief Product Officer, Kindred Group, commented: “Unibet is the first major sports betting brand to bring a sharing tool of this kind to the market. The advantage of our players becoming content creators has become a fascinating topic of discussion at Kindred. Our players are increasingly looking to share experiences and bets in our ever-expanding digital landscape and we are glad to be able to offer them this tool right ahead of the Euros.”

Johannes Nijboer, Head of Sportbook business development, Kindred Group, added: “The Background feature allows players to select and choose from up to eight different background visuals and we have developed our own suite of emojis that players can add to give the betslip a light touch. Text can be used to add written language and Unibet’s customers can scribble and highlight with Paint. This is truly an innovative and exciting tool. We are are rolling it out continuously and the acknowledgement so far has been fantastic. However the product development journey does not stop here. We are incredibly excited to continue the development process with our players and to ultimately craft a tool that sets Unibet apart.”

The tool can be found in the Sports My Bets section with plans on the table to further enhance accessibility. There are no restrictions in place regarding the type of bets that can be shared, e.g. open, settled, cashed out bets. 

All the backgrounds will contain Responsible Gambling messaging to ensure players are reminded to gamble responsibly.

AYO.NEWS says:

This seems like a simple, but powerful idea to get people sharing their betting experiences. However, we do wonder if, in the long term, it will eventually fall foul of the ever tightening anti-gambling marketing policies of the social media giants?

Blockchain-based fan engagement platform, Socios.com, has launched a new football Predictor feature in time for the European Championships and South American Cup. 

From Friday 11 June, every match from both tournaments will be featured in the Socios Predictor, with users earning XP Points for making predictions, guessing the correct score, winning team, and goal difference. 

Each tournament has its own leaderboard, and players will progress up the charts as they earn more XP Points, giving them the chance of winning prizes, including signed team merchandise, meet-and-greet experiences, matchday tickets, and $CHZ. Users will also be able to level up their profiles, collecting special reward badges as they go. 

Staying with Socios.com, at the end of May, the platform launched its first ever motorsport Fan Token Offering, for NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing. 

Gibraltar-based gambling operator Lottoland has expanded its UK offering with a sportsbook, ahead of the eagerly awaited UEFA Euro 2020. 

Following on from the launch of bingo late last year, UK Lottoland customers can now enjoy a true multi-product platform offering lotto betting, instant win games, scratchcards, casino, bingo, and sports betting.

Altenar is providing a fully managed sports betting platform for Lottland, offering a competitive sports product and pricing across all major sporting events globally. The partnership with Altenar also spans ten other territories. 

Nigel Birrell, CEO of Lottoland, said: “We are thrilled to be incorporating a sportsbook platform into our product offering for Lottoland’s UK players. Our customers are at the heart of what we do, and for that reason we are very pleased to be providing a one stop shop for lottery betting, gaming and sports.

“Continuing to partner with Altenar means that we can truly focus on customer experience, with competitive pricing, ease of use, market variety and a frictionless user journeys all being incorporated into the design. We are very pleased to see the finished product live on our site ahead of the Euros.”

Staying with Lottoland, last month it emerged that Maltese tax authorities were seeking €10M in VAT payments owed by the company’s Malta-based subsidiary, on behalf of the German tax authorities.