Can Bundesliga clubs still manage without gambling sponsors?

Even today, hardly any Bundesliga club can manage without a sponsor from the gambling sector. According to Statista, over 70% of clubs in the 1st division alone have a betting provider as a sponsor. Other clubs have gambling shops or lotteries on their list of sponsors. 1. FC Kaiserslautern and VfB Stuttgart now even have gambling providers as their main sponsors. But why are such sponsors so active in football?

It was only a few days ago that we at GambleJoe reported on Novoline becoming the new main sponsor of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. According to recent Statista research, this development can be observed across the board in Germany. According to this, hardly any Bundesliga club can do without gambling sponsors these days. This is despite the fact that the sponsorship of gambling companies in professional football regularly attracts criticism.

Many Bundesliga clubs have gambling companies as sponsors

Sports betting providers are particularly active sponsors of the Bundesliga 1 in Germany. According to Statista, 72% of first division football clubs have at least one betting provider as a sponsor. In the second division, 33% of clubs still advertise with a bookmaker in some way.

In addition, around a quarter of clubs in the Bundesliga 1 have a gaming parlour or casino as a sponsor (28%). In the 2nd division, the figure is even more than twice as high at 61%. In addition, 17% of clubs in both the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga have a lottery provider as a sponsor.

Last September, we reported that VfB Stuttgart had introduced two new gambling sponsors despite criticism. These are Winamax and Jokerstar.

Which professional clubs do without sponsors from the gambling industry?

In the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga together, there are six clubs that will completely forego sponsors from the gambling sector in the 2023/2024 season. In addition to SC Freiburg and RB Leipzig, these include 1. FC Heidenheim, Karlsruher SC, 1. FC Nürnberg and SpVgg Greuther Fürth.

Tip: The infographic and the entire article can be viewed free of charge here at Statista.

Conclusion

Even for professional clubs, it is now a difficult endeavour to find financially strong sponsors. More and more companies from other sectors are reducing their sponsorship budgets, meaning that clubs are obviously being forced to switch to controversial partners such as gambling providers more often. Back in January 2022, we at GambleJoe reported on a study according to which gambling sponsorship is unpopular in sport.

The fact is that the majority of clubs in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga are already financially unable or unwilling to do without the financially strong gambling companies as sponsors. The Bundesliga clubs are also attractive partners for gambling providers, as millions of mostly male people in Germany are interested in sport and are therefore potential new customers, especially for sports betting.

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