On the face of it, the Premier Soccer Leagues partnership with online gambling company betway, the new sponsors of South Africas top flight, is a game-changer for domestic football.
Valued at around R900 million over three years, the biggest single investment in South African sport, it more than doubles the reported annual value of the previous deal with DStv, which was said to be R137 million a year.
The betway premiership is set to come with increased prize money, meaning the clubs should also benefit, even if PSL chairman Irvin Khoza was evasive on whether the new influx of cash would mean an increase on the grants dished out to Premiership sides.
The deal is also not surprising in the sense that it follows a global trend of gambling companies gaining an increasing foothold in football sponsorship.
New rulesIn the English Premier League, 11 sides will start the coming season with different gambling companies on the front of their shirts. Betway is one of those companies, emblazoned across the West Ham shirt since 2015.
