In 2018, Liberty Media, the owners of Formula One (F1) since 2016, signed an agreement worth USD100 million with Interregional Sports Group, the first contract for global rights to gambling sponsorship in F1.
The late arrival of betting companies to the sponsorship scene was due to former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, who saw gambling as being at odds with the sports 'glamourous' image and therefore barred such deals, even though gambling has been closely connected with many other sports for several years.
Earlier sponsorship
Formula One has received around USD30 billion in sponsorship over the last 15 years even though takings have been falling in recent years. The various Grand Prix events act as a valuable setting for big-name sponsorship announcements by the teams, with title sponsors getting naming rights and decals in pride of place on the racing cars.
One of the biggest team sponsors in F1 has been Philip Morris International (PMI) which has paid an estimated USD50 million annually. With the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), which banned "all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship" in 2005, it is surprising that Philip Morris International has remained a sponsor of F1 for so long, whilst betting companies were banned.
Target audience
In 2019, the cumulative total television audience over the year for F1 alone was 1.9 billion. Audiences larger than 100 million were registered in the UK, Germany, Brazil, Italy and the Netherlands, with a growth in audiences from Poland, the Middle East and North Africa in comparison to 2018. In total, there are between 350 and 500 million individual fans from around the world watching F1 races each year on television or via an increasing number of other devices and streaming services. The number of viewers is about one-fifth lower than at its peak, with the fall blamed on contracts signed with pay-to-view networks which can outbid free-to-air broadcasters, even though they have a smaller audience.
Sponsorship deals
Interregional Sports Group
As with most other sponsorship deals, the potential is for Interregional Sports Group to advertise on electronic boards at racetracks, place graphics on-screen, and possibly offer live odds. The news brought excitement across gambling brands since fans of the sport are more likely to have already placed a bet at an online bookmaker via PC or mobile and are more inclined to gamble generally and are often influenced by things they have seen advertised on posters or billboards at the races.
Sportsbooks and casinos
Betting companies and F1 are a good fit as they allow sportsbooks to offer in-play betting, while the race is on. Some bookies are the same as pre-match markets and others are specifically created for in-play betting, with the most reliable operators reviewed at online-casinos.org.uk. The operators listed here are licensed in the UK and change the odds offered according to what is happening in real-time, with betting temporarily suspended in the event of something like a crash that puts a car out of the race completely, so that the odds can be updated.
Team owner payments
Payments by team owners in F1 like Mercedes or Ferrari are made in return for branding on the cars and engines. These payments are made by several companies, including the beer brand Heineken and luxury watchmaker Rolex which each pay fees of around USD50 million each year. The placement of decals on cars and race suits is proportionate to the money received.
Title sponsors
Trackside advertisers and title sponsors of individual races from the likes of Gulf Air and Singapore Airlines provide at least USD1.5 billion each year, reaching a peak of around USD2.7 billion at its peak in 2007.
If betting companies, including all the Best Sports Betting Sites Philippines, become synonymous with F1 and specific cars, as Canon was with Williams and Vodafone with McLaren Mercedes, gambling brands could find a wealth of opportunity becoming the biggest sponsors in F1.
