Belgian sports world loses millions due to gambling advertising ban

Belgian sports world loses millions due to gambling advertising ban

In the Netherlands the demand for a ban on gambling advertisements is increasing enormously and in Belgium it is also currently the talk of the day. The Belgian sports world will soon be dealt a hard blow. The gambling advertisements on sports teams will be banned and that will cost professional sports clubs a lot of money. The ban will take effect in 2025 and is going to bring about a lot. Gambling advertisements from casinos should no longer be visible in the stadiums, but also not on the jerseys of the sports teams.

There are currently 16 paid soccer clubs in the Belgian professional leagues that are sponsored by a gambling company. Annually, these 16 clubs receive an amount of around 10 million euros. It will therefore have a major financial impact on the Belgian professional soccer clubs, reported https://onlinecricket.bet/cricket-betting-sites/.

Other sports are also affected

The Belgian soccer clubs look to the future with fear and trepidation, as far as the sponsorship income is concerned. This also applies to other sports clubs. The gambling companies are in fact active in several sports as sponsors, including basketball, cycling and volleyball. Most cycling teams are financially dependent on the sponsorship income, which is also true for some basketball clubs at the highest Belgian level.

The Belgian volleyball league even has the name "EuroMillions" league. Marie De Clerck, CEO of the volleyball league, even speaks of a disaster.

"We are extremely happy to have a partner like Euromillions, because they believe in a sport like volleyball. We are a much smaller sport than, say, soccer or cycling. At least with bigger sports there are other revenues like TV rights. This is not the case with smaller sports. As far as the impact on smaller sports is concerned, that is also the difference between surviving or not surviving. Hopefully we can come to a solution together."

Dutch clubs and gambling companies

In the Netherlands, there have been many sponsorship agreements between gambling companies and sports clubs in recent months. Ajax and Unibet managed to score a sponsorship deal with the new legal gaming provider Unibet. In addition, BetCity.nl managed to present itself as shirt sponsor of FC Volendam, Fortuna Sittard and Vitesse. Other gaming providers are also involved in professional sports.