The entertainment and hospitality industries, for a long time, have used loyalty programs to reward loyal customers. In recent years, online casinos have taken this strategy to a new level by partnering with other industry stakeholders. For instance, today, many online casinos collaborate with football clubs to reward loyal players. Read on to learn how players benefit from these partnerships between football clubs and casinos.
Many football fans are always optimistic their team is going to win against a certain team. Therefore, it makes sense they would be aiming to bet on it winning, just to make a point. They can look at highest payout online casinos which offer such bets and add more fun to it. So, many casinos are increasingly looking to partner with popular football clubs.
When players gamble on an online casino that is working with a football club, they earn loyalty points for each bet they place. The player receives the loyalty points whenever they wager on sports-themed and football-related games. Once a player accumulates enough points, they can redeem them for football-themed rewards and experiences offered by their football club and casino.
The rewards include gifts such as football merchandise, tickets to special matches, and sometimes meet-and-greet with top club players. Those programs also have a tier-based reward system. Once a player meets a specific threshold, they move to a higher tier.
The casinos name the loyalty tiers with distinguishing names such as:
The gamblers in the highest tier receive the most coveted rewards, such as getting a seat in a private booth during a match. They also get enhanced customer support and personalized bonuses. It encourages loyal players to engage with their favorite football clubs and enjoy betting on sports games.
Football gains a lot from engaging in casino loyalty programs, by having additional revenue streams from the wagers the players make on certain games. Moreover, these programs strengthen the emotional connections that clubs have with their players. And it pushes the players to support their clubs in novel ways, which bolsters their loyalty to their football club.
Clubs also get additional marketing opportunities for the merchandise from the exposure they get on casino platforms. And that opens new ways to promote the club's brand and create new connections across various demographics. These additional marketing benefits are mutually beneficial to the club and the websites. They create lasting financial and emotional connections between clubs, players, and casinos.
For instance, Statista estimated the Premier League in England in 2020/21 earned over 349.1 million British pounds from shirt sponsorship deals. The club earned these revenues by just having the logos or trademarks of their sponsors on the team's t-shirts. Among the teams that had shirt sponsorships from casinos in 2022/2023 are West Ham United and Everton.
West Ham United collaborated with Betway, with the partner supporting them for $12.70m per year. That was West Ham's single biggest sponsorship deal for 2022/2023. The casino is not the only brand supporting West Ham United. There are 23 other brands in various industries sponsoring the club. The top five, led by Betway, account for 79% of the club's total income from sponsorships.
Everton signed a shirt sponsorship deal with Stakes for 2022/2023, valued at US$12.52 million. This was a record for the club, after surpassing the US$12 million deal it signed with SportPesa between 2017 and 2020. The deal covers both the men's and women's team t-shirts and other physical and digital assets. However, since Stake is a betting brand, it will not appear in the club's youth sides.
With football clubs having a global audience, online casinos get global brand exposure each time a team plays. And if their team wins a major cup, they get additional exposure as the team gets featured in numerous leading publications. The icing on the cake is they get featured even in countries where gambling is not yet legal.
Even for fans who have yet to visit any casino, just seeing the word bet and the casino brand is enough to start a mental connection with the casino. With time, football fans get curious enough to visit online gambling sites and bet on a few games. To further make sure they don't miss a chance to engage new leads, most casinos offer free bonuses to get the new players to create an account.
For casinos and sponsorship brands, each match offers an opportunity for them to grow their revenues and fan base. And for players, deals expose them to gambling brands they may have never known existed. Thus, we expect to see more of these sponsorships as more jurisdictions legalize online gambling.
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