Paris Saint-Germain has a new sponsor. And – once again – it is causing a stir
Last week PSG announced that they had signed a three-year contract with the sports betting company “1XBET”. The company was to become the “official regional partner in Africa and Asia” and carry out marketing campaigns. Criticism was not long in coming. “The website is illegal in France and has led to a large number of blocking orders,” “L’Equipe” quoted an employee of the ANJ authority, which regulates gambling in France, as saying this week.
Banned in several countries
“1XBET” not only doesn’t have a licence in France, it also has a questionable history. In September 2019, Premier League clubs Tottenham, Chelsea and Liverpool had terminated their contracts with the operator. According to a report in The Sunday Times, the reason was that the site was alleged to have used its brand to promote betting on children’s sporting events and cockfights, as well as an erotic casino.
The newspaper also published at the time the attempts by “1XBET” to target a gambling addiction among young people in Kenya – only eleven months after Spurs had made the company their official betting partner in Africa. The British regulatory authority had threatened the three clubs with sanctions at the time. Besides England, “1XBET” is also blacklisted in several other countries such as Poland, Israel or the Netherlands.
Controversy in France
PSG has not yet commented on the controversy. Marc Armstrong, director of partnerships, said in the club’s statement only that “1XBET is well established in Africa and Asia, where the club has many fans” and that the website “wishes to consolidate its leading position in many countries by working with Paris Saint-Germain”.
The partnership is particularly piquant in view of the fact that there has recently been extensive discussion in France about the danger of gambling and betting providers. In the course of this, the ANJ had, among other things, severely restricted advertising for betting providers in the country. Even though the partnership does not relate to the French market: The new sponsor of the biggest club in the country does not exactly silence the discussion.
