Betway invests in Spain despite a mulled gambling Advertisement Ban
Betway, a sports betting service, has formed a new agreement with RC Celta de Vigo, a third similar deal with a Spanish soccer franchise in recent weeks. The step signals Betway’s commitment to cement its position in the Spanish sports betting market amid concerns that the government would soon limit the better part of betting advertisements and force betting companies to badge off the jerseys and training facilities operated by sports teams.
Betway will display its logos in the home stadium of the team, the Estadio Municipal de Balaídos according to the terms of the partnership. The team was delighted with the new relationship, according to Celta ‘s president, Ricardo Barros, citing the international popularity of the company as one of the main reasons the team was looking forward to working with Betway.
He further clarified that it was not easy at first to sign a deal with Betway because most betting agencies of the same rank usually study and investigate any possible signs long before they propose. As a result of the alliance, Barros hopes that the soccer club will continue to rise and develop through the Spanish La Liga soccer ranks, which is one of the world’s most contested soccer championships.
Betway extended yet another alliance with another La Liga team earlier this week, the Real Betis. Also, Betway reached a new deal for the 2020/2021 season with Segunda Division franchise CD Leganes.
Spain has been edging closer to the country’s more conservative sports betting system. While the country’s gambling results rose by 12.5% year-over-year in Q1, 2020, the government has been gung-ho about the possibility of allowing gambling to be widespread in the public eye. When the COVID-19 shutdown began, the government limited ads to shield vulnerable members of society who were likely to gamble too much.
The proposal was then picked up and incorporated in more comprehensive amendments to the gambling ads submitted to the European Union ( EU), drawing criticism from experts in the local industry. They warned against overburdening the market with regulations so that customers will start going offshore. Nonetheless, the most recent change is not wholly unexpected as Spain has intended for a long time now to reduce most gambling ads by 80%
In a sense, Betway is well aware of these proposed reforms, and the company must realize that the government will not go back down and would likely try to limit ads for gambling according to the proposals outlined above. For most businesses in the world, one pet peeve was the fact that the first anti-crisis initiatives implemented during the first COVID-19 lockdown are now about to become a part of the country’s permanent system for regulating gambling advertisements.
Elsewhere, through a series of steps that will be enforced by the end of 2021, the National Commission to Fight the Manipulation of Sports Competitions and Betting Fraud has promised to eliminate corruption in sports in Spain.
