GAMBLING WITH KENYAN FOOTBALL?

Sportpesa models Milka Waya (from left) Peninah Juma and Peninah Juma during the announcement of Sportpesa sponsorship to the club and unveilling of the new Gor's jersey for this season. Gor Mahia Football Club's Patron Raila Odinga and Sportpesa's CEO Captain Ronald Karauri graced the occassion .March 4th,2016. Photo/Elvis Ogina (Nairobi)

Betting firms have continued to sponsor football clubs around the world, despite concerns raised by sports moralists, who argue that the threat of match-fixing by way of online gambling is something that even Interpol has investigated and confirmed.

“These matches are not all lower league. We are talking about Champions League matches, at least one of which was played in England. We are talking about football at the highest level,” Vice Sports reported in December.

SportPesa, which describes itself as Africa’s number one sports betting platform, has taken on the lucrative Kenyan Premier League sponsorship with aplomb, locking it for the next five years.

It has also pulled a major public relations and advertising stunt by bringing on board the bastion of Kenya’s football fanaticism — 16-time champions Gor Mahia and their rivals, AFC Leopards, who together command the largest and most passionate following.

The contracts with Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards will each run for five years. The firm also sponsors a Nairobi-based inter-constituency Super 8 League. The figures involved were not released to the media, but is reliably said to be running into millions of shillings and enough to make officials sleep soundly.

The deal is a huge relief to the clubs, who often have to rely on political patronage to pay coaches and players’ salaries.

Ambrose Rachier, the Gor Mahia chair reportedly runs a conservative monthly budget of between Sh 4 and 5 million to plug the deficit in club accounts, according to people who claim to know the operations of the club.

With scandal-scarred Mumias Sugar Company balking on their sponsorship of Leopards, and Kenyatta family-owned Brookside Dairy (Tuzo) declining to renew their contract with Gor last year, the clubs, whose fans are not as passionate with their monetary contributions as they are with the delirium, were left with no option but carry begging bowls to make ends meet.

SportPesa could not have come at a better time, they said.

But even as football fans celebrate the timely intervention of SportPesa, questions are emerging on the moral probity of betting firms sponsoring a top-tier league and its two top clubs.

“I can see a lot of match-fixing on the local scene in coming days,” said a veteran referee, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisals. His views were shared by a retired international player.

But retired Fifa referee GMT Ottieno who heads Stadium Safety and Security at SportPesa Kenyan Premier League Limited, warns: “If we detect it, we will blacklist them and report them to African Football Confederation.”

Kester Shimonyo, the SportPesa Chief Marketing Officer says it is in the interest of betting firms to make sure there is no match-fixing “because we will be the ones paying for it.”

He says players and other stakeholders in the top league have had their numbers de-registered from betting on local matches “as a first step to controlling possible match-fixing.”

Jack Oguda, the SKPL Chief Executive says they have received such concerns, but that they are addressing any possible loophole that could cause a breach of the league’s regulations or taint its reputation.

“So long as they (SportPesa) are not involved in the day-to-day running of the league, and are only exploiting marketing opportunities, we are fine with it,” Oguda told FeverPitch.

“But we are putting in place a policy that will protect the game from possible match-fixing,” he said, adding that clubs and match officials, players and SKPL secretariat officials cannot bet on local matches.

Their numbers have been forwarded to all mobile telephone service providers and they will not access betting platforms even if they wanted to.

Bob Munro, another old-hand in football scene, said SportPesa was able to see what many top local companies have either ignored or taken for granted.

“There are huge marketing opportunities in football and if blue chip companies cannot see them, SportPesa will be reaping its benefits, with prime time exposure on national television worth millions of shillings, and acres on the mass media,” said Munro.

The situation in the UK is not any different. Despite there being a ban on gambling for both players and coaches for the EPL, 35 per cent of Premier League shirt sponsors are betting companies, which means seven out of the 20 teams in the league have a gambling industry logo printed across their shirts, FutureSport reported in their website.

West Ham (Betway), Crystal Palace (Mansion), Sunderland (Dafabet), Stoke City (Bet365), West Brom (TLC Bet), Watford (138.com) and Bournemouth (Mansion). All the 20 clubs have official betting partners, among them, Norwich City with Coral as their official betting partner; West Brom with Netbet and Leicester City with BetFair.

Bundesliga Fanatic reported that over the past few years, there have been an influx of both live and online betting or gaming companies sponsoring football clubs in Bundesliga.

Bayern Munich only recently signed a deal with sports betting and casino games company Tipico. Royal Vegas online casino also sponsors Bundesliga teams.

Betting on local football has taken Kenyans to a frenzy, and it did not surprise that sponsorship by betting companies entered the Kenyan sports market, targeting the most popular sport — football.

SportPesa, Betin, Betway, Lotto and betyetu are the betting firms to have taken the Kenyan market by storm.

Shimonyo defended sponsorship of two clubs in the same league, drawing examples from South Africa where Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs are sponsored by Vodacom.

He said sponsoring the top league when two of its best teams were wallowing in poverty could not have improved the quality of the league.

He added, in good measure, that they are in talks with more clubs for part-sponsorship and full sponsorship.