PSL urged to police players over betting after Betway deal

Following the Betway sponsorship of the PSL, there are fears that too much access to betting content could compromise the integrity of the League.

Betway rescued the PSL on the eve of the start of the 2024/25 season after coming on board as the headline sponsor to replace DStv, a product of MultiChoice.

MultiChoice pulled out of sponsoring the League with one year remaining on the contract.
Betway concluded a deal with the PSL worth R900 million for a period of three years.
Although betting companies have been sponsoring clubs in Europe, there has not yet been a betting company headlining a league, as the main sponsor. To get the reaction from former players, Kickoff caught up with erstwhile Moroka Swallows defender Roger da Costa.

Da Costa believes the reason why leagues like the English Premier League are yet to be sponsored by a betting company is due to apprehensions over match-fixing and betting irregularities.

“At the end of the day it comes down to money, if the betting company is gonna pay the PSL more than DStv, then the deal is worth it because clubs get a piece of that too. So it’s business,”

– Da Costa told KickOff.

“But I think the reason why big leagues stay away from that is whereas teams are sponsored by betting companies. It’s because there could be some match-fixing [issues]…There’s got to be serious rules enforced that players can’t bet on games or something like that when a betting company is the main sponsor,”

– Da Costa said.

“I don’t think it’s bad, which obviously they’ve paid a lot of money for it. The clubs would benefit. But the danger comes in when players have access [to information] and start betting on games. There needs to be some serious rules and regulations enforced. The danger could come in if there’s too much access to the betting side of it,”

– the former hard-tackling defender added.

Source: sni24.com

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Samuel

I am a journalist specializing in gambling in Africa and around the world. I am particularly interested in stories about games and casinos.

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Samuel

I am a journalist specializing in gambling in Africa and around the world. I am particularly interested in stories about games and casinos.