If you’ve ever had the opportunity to debate sponsorship with your friends, you may have found a precious and hard-to-believe piece of information that there are gambling sites and companies actually sponsoring athletes, particularly cyclists. The first response to this would normally be flat out denial, as such a business move would be ethically questionable, given the inside information available to the sponsors.
It is not the same as using the STS bet promo code 2019 and betting on a mate who is playing on the team you know – the scale of the issue is astounding. So, let us dive into the problem, or the situation, that is cyclists sponsored by gambling companies.
Unibet and KNWU
The Dutch have always been pretty strict when it comes to gambling. In fact, organizers of sporting events, including the sponsors themselves are not allowed to have any stake in the outcome of the race. In spite of that, in 2016 the Netherlands was expected to change the legislation somewhat, allowing cyclists to present the logos and colours of betting sites and companies. The new gambling act was supposed to make the deal between KNWU, or the Netherlands National Cycling Association, and Unibet a very lucrative one.
The stalling of the new regulations made the companies feel restless, so they mutually agreed to cancel their sponsorship deal. This was, no doubt, a blow for Unibet, as the company is already present on kits and uniforms of athletes in other sports, namely football. Unibet was the biggest contender for the position of a cyclist sponsorship, as no other company, to the best of our knowledge, has the right to sponsor cyclists yet. In other words, as best as we can tell, there are no companies sponsoring bicyclers.
The Conflict of Interest
You may be wondering about the reason so many different organizations in charge of regulating and organizing sporting events are not keen on getting sponsored by gambling companies. Consider, if you will, the conflict of interest this could potentially conjure up. A betting site that acts as a sponsor to an event or a team might have access to some key information regarding the state of the athletes and their previous record. It would be more accurate to say that the sponsor would know a lot more about the teams and participants involved.
While this may seem harmless at first, we would do well to remember that it is the betting sites that set the odds to the sporting events. If a company knows how to minimize its losses, it will undoubtedly do so, shifting the balance of the gambling market. That’s not the only issue people have with this setup.
The Promotion of Betting on Sports
Different countries have different ideas about what level of gambling is acceptable. While every legitimate company will urge you to gamble responsibly, the mentality and the potential issues coming from the gambling culture could upset the equilibrium some countries are struggling to maintain. Unfortunately, not all bettors know that betting on sports is not a viable way of making money. Countries like the aforementioned Netherlands and France do not want young people to see betting on sports as an investment opportunity. Football has not been able to circumvent the betting sites, but cycling is still pretty safe.