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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
BULAWAYO Chiefs FC have been commended for breaking the norm and moving with the global trends by striking a deal with top betting company, Moors World of Sports (MWOS) that will see the bookmakers’ being their principal sponsor.

The sponsorship announced on Monday states that MWOS’ logo will feature on the front of all Chiefs’ playing shirts.

According to footballtalk.co.uk, the global gambling market is expanding into the international sports industry.

Betting houses do it in the form of sponsorships, especially in the field where most fans are found.

According to reports, football generates by far the largest number of fans.

Some estimations suggest that a staggering 3,5 billion people watch football all over the world, making it a perfect target for betting houses.

By wearing a kit with the betting houses’ logo, the company places itself in front of thousands of football fans across the globe who follow Chiefs on their social media platforms.

Sports administrator and founder of the Sports Leaders Institute of Zimbabwe (Sliz) Russell Mhiribidi commended Chiefs for using the numbers on their social media pages to woo MWOS. Chiefs have 61 900 Twitter followers.

Mhiribidi said there is no bigger brand awareness campaign than one being seen by millions of people, especially when these are the same people who place bets at such companies.

He believes the Chiefs deal has the potential to draw more betting companies as seen in the English Premier League.

West Ham United, Newcastle, Fulham, Leeds and Crystal Palace have partnerships with betting companies.

The entire French Professional Football League has a betting company as a sponsor, aka Betclcic.

Other notable teams that cooperated or still co-operate with gambling sites and betting houses are Inter Milan, Napoli, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid, among others.

“I for one don’t see anything amiss with the Chiefs’ deal as long as people stick to what they do best.

Gambling people stick to ethical gambling and football people stick to football,” said Mhiribidi.

“It’s good to see this partnership being formed because these two, Bulawayo Chiefs and MWOS, are part of the same industry, sports entertainment.

There’s a need to co-exist and getting money from the betting houses is one way of enhancing development of football.

The only problem might come if betting houses influence decisions, which I don’t think will happen because all over the world betting companies are sponsoring sport.

“The Bulawayo Chiefs deal is a good move; a straightforward deal and they’ve set the bar for others to follow.

Betting houses tend to forget that they are part of the sports ecosystem so they have to make sure that the response is high and people get interested.

Betting requires people to be interested in the local league and once we improve the local league, there’ll be more people betting and as long as everything is ethical, the key point being ethical, it won’t be surprising to have more such companies coming on board,” said Mhiribidi.

– @ZililoR