Betting sponsor SportPesa given the boot by FAI | Ireland | The Sunday Times
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has terminated its two-year sponsorship agreement with the betting company SportPesa one of the final deals that John Delaney agreed before he stepped down as chief executive of the football body last March.
Despite its financial crisis, which was resolved through a €20m government bailout announced last week, the FAI decided to end its two-year contract with the Kenyan betting giant which only began last March.
The association had been widely criticised by gambling addiction groups for agreeing a deal with SportPesa.
When briefing the FAI board on the deal, which was launched in the Aviva Stadium with press photos of national team manager Mick McCarthy and Shaun Simmonds, a SportPesa marketing executive, Delaney pointed out that Shamrock Rovers had a sponsorship deal with Paddy Power.
"[This] will be the last time we do a betting sponsor and [we] will get a bit of stick, but we just have to put up with it," said Delaney.
On March 14 last year, the FAI said SportPesa would partner it "on a corporate social responsibility programme". The English FA cancelled its sponsorship with bookmaker Ladbrokes in 2017 following several high-profile cases of players being caught betting on matches. In recent years, a number of League of Ireland players have faced allegations of match fixing and of betting on games, which is a breach of FAI rules. Two Athlone Town players have been banned for match fixing, although one of those cases is still under appeal.
Last week a garda raid in Limerick found evidence of betting, a stun gun, €20,000 in cash and electronic devices during an investigation into alleged match fixing involving Limerick FC.
SportPesa had asked the FAI to refrain from proactively announcing the termination of its sponsorship.
In response to questions from The Sunday Times, the FAI "thanked Sport-Pesa for their sponsorship support after reaching a mutual agreement to end the relationship".
"A re-evaluation of sponsorship focus at the FAI prompted discussions between the two parties which has led to the expiry of this deal in January," it said.
SportPesa said: "The FAI and Sport-Pesa have mutually agreed to terminate the partnership between the two organisations. SportPesa has been immensely proud of its highly successful partnership with the FAI since March 2019. We, however, respect the fact that the FAI has decided to shift its priorities and re-evaluate its partnerships portfolio.
"As an organisation that takes responsible gambling incredibly seriously, we understand the new approach taken by the FAI towards its partnerships with those in the gaming sector. As we continue to embark on our global expansion strategy, SportPesa remains fully committed to the promotion of responsible gambling in every market we operate in.
"The relationship between the two parties remains very amicable and we would like to thank the FAI for its co-operation throughout the duration of this partnership. We also wish Mick McCarthy and his players the best of luck ahead of their crucial Uefa Euro 2020 play-off campaign."
The FAI has had a deal with betting outfit Trackchamp-ChyronHego since 2015 to record and stream League of Ireland games on betting websites. The deal has been partly credited with driving up interest in gambling on League of Ireland matches in Asian markets. Sportradar, a betting analytics firm used by Uefa, found that Irish Premier Division games attracted an average of €2.5m in bets globally in 2017. First Division games, which have crowds of less than 500 on average, attracted bets totalling up to €650,000 on betting exchanges.
The FAI had an offer of €150,000 to extend the deal for the next League of Ireland season but last week declined to say if it had agreed to the proposal.
Barry Grant, chief executive of Problem Gambling Ireland, welcomed the "bold" move by the FAI to cut its links with SportPesa despite its financial crisis.
He said the rate of gambling addiction among footballers had been found to be three to four times higher than in the general population. Grant said gambling addiction was also a huge problem in Africa, where there are very few regulations governing betting companies.
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