Chelsea have announced they have signed a two and half year deal with Coral for the bookmaker to be its “European online betting partner” until the end of the 2015-16 season. So what does this actually mean? Will all Chelsea fans get handed free bets with every match ticket? Well, maybe not. Read on for the details all the same.
Ultimately a football club doesn’t really and truly need a European online betting partner, but in this day and age of football being a multi-billion pound a year industry, football clubs are reaching out in all directions to look for new revenue streams. And no doubt Coral paid a princely sum for the privilege (though no figures have been disclosed at the time of writing).
So what do it mean for Chelsea fans? Well, Coral have said they will be offering exclusive offers to Blues fans every week (though they don’t say how they will verify whether someone is a diehard fan or simply a glory supporter who’s looking for a cheeky free bet!).
In a statement Chelsea’s chief executive Ron Gourlay said, “We are very pleased to align ourselves with such a leading betting company as Coral,”, while John O’Reilly, the Managing Director of Coral Interactive, sounded like the cat who’d got the cream with the following statement: “We are delighted to form this exciting partnership with Chelsea FC. They are one of the leading football clubs in the world and a very successful business too, and we are looking forward to providing an exciting and professional betting service to all their fans and customers through our new and improved website and mobile betting platforms.”
So all in all this looks like a win-win-win deal: cash for Chelsea, potential for more customers for Coral and – given the latter are one of the top bookies in the business and are committed to dishing out offers to Chelsea fans – better value bets for the punters!