The transfer window closing early last week showed us the beast that is the English Premier League should not be underestimated in any circles. Those who had been circling the league like vultures when Cristiano Ronaldo scarpered to Madrid two years ago were delivered a swift rebuke as over £100million was spent by Premier League clubs in January.
We already showed you Chelsea’s finances earlier on this month and given the fact the names of gambling companies are emblazoned across the front of many a replica jersey anything financial is of great interest to the gambling industry.
Deloitte today chose to release their much-famed “Money League,” measuring the world’s top 20 revenue-earning teams.
Top of the pile are bwin sponsored Real Madrid at €438.6m closely followed by fellow compatriots Barcelona at €398.1m. As for the remainder of the top ten, four of them are English sides (Man Utd (3rd place), Arsenal (5), Chelsea (6), Liverpool (8)), and in terms of gambling company sponsorship it’s interesting to look at the top 20 as a whole.
Amongst the top 20 there are four who are currently sponsored by an online gambling company, the aforementioned Real Madrid, and BetClic sponsoring Juventus (10), and the French pair of Lyon (14) and Marseille (15).
Also, if you delve into the past of those who make up the top 20, AC Milan (bwin), Tottenham Hotspur (Mansion), and Aston Villa (32Red) have all also had shirt sponsorship from an online gambling firm in the past. This is significant, showing that the industry involvement isn’t just a quick fire thing.
The Premier League has already seen the amount of gambling companies sponsoring shirts stay steady for a number of years and with the ruling in Germany last year it may rise across continental Europe in line with regulation.
