Unibet Boost Cricket Sponsorship

If you’ve been watching any cricket during the new T20 Blast season, chances are that the name of Unibet will be somewhere at the back of your mind. The online sportsbook and casino are sponsoring the televised coverage on Sky Sports this summer but at the same time, they have signed up as an official betting partner around the English counties.

Latest Deal

The most recent contract has been agreed with Warwickshire CCC who are traditionally one of the most successful sides in the history of English one day cricket. The deal is for an initial two years and interestingly, this is the first such partnership for the county.

While this isn’t a shirt sponsorship arrangement in the strictest sense, the deal will also see the Unibet logo featured on the kits worn by Warwickshire’s T20 team – the Birmingham Bears – throughout the 2017 and 2018 Nat West Blast campaigns.

With other contracts already signed up, this is clearly a sport that Unibet take very seriously and that view was confirmed by Sam Mead, head of UK marketing.

We are passionate about Cricket at Unibet, and Warwickshire CCC perfectly matches our friendly, passionate and expert brand values.

As for the cricket club, their Commercial Director Gareth Roberts said:

Unibet is one of the biggest online bookmakers in Europe and to welcome such a well-known brand as our first Betting Partner is a great fit for the club.

Unibet share these ambitions and we look forward to working with its team to develop some innovative match day opportunities.

Unibet are also on board with Essex CCC as their official betting partner and this has been ongoing since the start of 2016. This contract provides that partnership but also has an element of sponsorship with one of the stands at the club’s main Chelmsford ground being named after the operator.

The deal has seen Unibet granted access to players for commercial purposes and it’s been a beneficial partnership all round. While cricket doesn’t have the transfer style policy that we associate with football, the funds that have been provided help Essex CCC with coaching and other infrastructure while the operator gets plenty of exposure in return.

To complete a current hat trick, Unibet are also the official betting partner for Surrey county cricket club in a deal that was confirmed in May 2017, at the start of the English cricket season.

TV Stars

After the ICC Champions Trophy, the focus in England returns to domestic cricket and in particular, the Nat West T20 blast. The tournament started on Friday July 7 and anyone watching at home on TV will have seen Unibet appear as the action moves into an ad break.

It’s clearly a good move for the bookmaker and while the deals with Essex, Surrey and Warwickshire increase their focus on the pitch, many more spectators can be picked up from watching the game in the comfort of their living room. And, it’s a boost for the tournament too which needs additional revenue to grow. In major grounds such as Lord’s and the Oval, attendances can reach over 20,000 but those numbers aren’t so high in all parts of the country so any additional funding is vital in order to see this important competition continue to thrive.

While high profile football sponsorship deals dominate the headlines, sports such as cricket really need all the financial help they can get so it’s great to see Unibet getting heavily behind the game in England.

While the T20 Blast has been going in various forms since 2003, it’s curious to note that a successful one day side such as Warwickshire haven’t linked up with a betting partner before. This type of deal has been a sporadic one but hopefully Unibet have set a proper precedent and that more will follow because the game certainly needs it.