by Renee Israel
On Monday this week, Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, which is the world's
biggest stock exchange-listed online gambling firm, was ordered by a Portuguese
court of law to stop sponsoring sports in the nation.
Bwin's sponsorship of national sports in Portugal has been labelled as
illegal, and the new court ruling could be responsible for ending similar
sponsorship deals between sports groups in Portugal and online gambling
companies.
In Portugal, many local sports clubs and associations, as well as
tournaments, have sponsorship deals with online gambling firms, as in some cases
it's the only way for them to generate the revenues they need to fund their
activities.
Bwin's sponsorship deal of the Portuguese League Cup is worth a sizable €4
million, which means the tournament could potentially be in jeopardy if its main
source funding was suddenly interrupted.
The Portuguese League for Professional Football said in a statement: "As of
Monday, the Portuguese League for Professional Football is obliged to remove all
advertising that refers to Bwin."
However, the League was adamant that it would appeal Monday's ruling - which
also covered tax and regulatory laws - stating that if they were forced to
cancel Bwin's sponsorship, the country's national game would be directly
impacted.
Online Gambling Groups Sponsor Portuguese Sports
Bwin.Party is not the only group to sponsor sports organisations
in Portugal. Betclic, which is based in the online gambling friendly
jurisdiction of Gibraltar, has its name visible on the shirts of several soccer
teams in the country.
Leading UK online sports betting exchange Betfair also has a
strong presence in the Portuguese sports market.
In 2005, the Portuguese Casino Association partnered with Santa
Casa, the country's official lottery operators, to lodge a suit against Bwin's
actions in the sports market.
As part of their complaint, the groups claimed that Bwin had an
unfair advantage over them as they were subject to Portuguese tax while Bwin was
not. They also claimed that Bwin.Party was not subject to the country's gambling
laws.
After this week's court ruling, Portuguese Casino Association
manager, Artur Mateus said: "We are happy with this decision, it was a positive
one. We pay for extremely expensive licenses so we want the state to combat
illegal operators who have unfair advantages."
Bwin executives were obviously disappointed with the ruling,
saying that it goes against acceptable European Union law.
"The court failed to take into account EU law," said one Bwin
spokesman. "One cannot aggressively advertise and expand games on the one hand
and keep foreign competition out on the other hand."
The company also said that it would suspend all sponsorship and
Bwin will quit sports advertising in Portugal.
