Last weekend, it was announced that the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has terminated the two-year sponsorship contract with SportPesa, a sports betting company operating across the world. The agreement has been one of the final deals reached by John Delaney before he left his position as Chief Executive Officer of the FAI in March 2019.
Recently, there has bee a lot of pressure faced by anti-gambling addiction groups that have been calling for the association to take stricter measures regarding the connection between gambling and football. The increasing pressure has been one of the reasons why the Football Association has decided to cut its links with SportPesa.
Despite the financial difficulties that the Association has been lately facing, the country’s football governing body decided to end its two-year contract with the gambling company. The watchdog had been widely criticised by a number of anti-gambling groups for entering the agreement in the first place.
The termination of the contract has been considered another heavy blow for the gambling operator that has been facing some difficulties lately. A few months ago, the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) has refused to renew the Kenyan operating licence of SportPesa due to the rapidly expanding gambling addiction rates in the country that has been affecting not only more vulnerable adults, but underage individuals, as well.
According to the Sunday Times, SportPesa had asked the Football Association of Ireland not to be too public about their recently-terminated sponsorship deal.
Anti-Gambling Campaigners Have Been Calling for Stricter Measures for Gambling in Football
As mentioned above, the deal between the FAI and SportPesa was announced in mid-March 2019. At the time, the country’s football governing body explained that it would join forces with the betting operator as part of its corporate social responsibility program.
However, after the announcement about the partnership was made, the then-CEO of the FAI, John Delaney, revealed that the agreement would be the last time the Association did a betting sponsor. Mr Delaney stepped down from his leading position in the Association shortly after the SportPesa agreement was announced, causing serious turmoil in the Association.
This has not been the first time when a Football Association has ended its relationship with a gambling sponsor. Back in 2017, the English FA ended its sponsorship agreement with the sports betting giant Ladbrokes following several high-profile scandals involving professional athletes being caught betting on football matches. In comparison, some football players in the League of Ireland have been involved in betting on matches and match-fixing scandals over the last few years, which was another major reason why the SportPesa sponsorship agreement was not welcomed gladly.
Last weekend, a spokesperson for the Association has revealed that the two parties had reached a mutual agreement to put an end to their relationship following the FAI’s decision to re-evaluate its sponsorship focus.
- Author
Olivia Cole
