Several sports are in panic following an impending announcement by Betway sports betting company to quit the Ugandan market.
Although the company is yet to announce its exit, a top official confirmed the move, saying they will make the announcement at the right time.
Betway sports betting company, which has operated in Uganda for the last seven years has been a major sponsor for different sports clubs including Uganda Premier League champions Express FC, Basketball Club Betway Powe, and Kobs Rugby Club. The same company sponsored Arua-based club Onduparaka back in 2016.
The abrupt exit of the company will therefore leave a huge vacuum among clubs that have been relying on its sponsorship. In an interaction with Uganda Radio Network-URN Livingstone Luggya, the Chairperson of Kobs Rugby Club said that Betway has been their main sponsor since it came on board in 2017.
“We had a running contract until December 2022 and we were supposed to negotiate in December but they communicated to us that they will not renew so it put us in a tight spot,” Luggy briefly told URN.
Although Luggya never wanted to disclose what was in their partnership with Bet way throughout that period, he revealed that Kobs have been able to achieve many things courtesy of support from the betting company.
Among the key issues, he raised, is the winning bonus of Shillings One million the club received every time they registered victory among others, saying this would boost the morale of their players every time they entered the pitch.
Kobs Rugby is already taking part in the Uganda Rugby Premier league that kicked off this month. The Kobs are the defending champions of the national rugby league after beating second-placed Black Pirates 15- to win their first title in five years. It remains unclear whether the team will remain competitive after the departure of its main sponsor.
Allan Musoke, the General manager of Betway Power Basketball Club told URN that the club was hot because of the overwhelming support, the company gave them on and off the field. He says that they have since embarked on looking for another sponsor to push the club forward.
Musoke said that Betway Power also had a running contract that was ending at the end of March 2022. He, however, explained that everything in the contract was fulfilled.
In November 2018, Betway announced that they had entered a partnership with Express FC that saw them injecting Shillings 400 million into the club. The contract allowed Betway to own naming rights of Express FC stadium and also appear on the team’s jersey. The contract was later renewed in 2020.
Tabbu Peter, the communications manager at Express FC, said that the club had a contract that was running until the end of the current Uganda Premier League season but the exit of Betway leaves a vacuum in the club.
“We had a running contract and it was going up to the end of this current season. They sent us a letter, saying they had gone back, and they couldn’t stay in the market anymore, so there was no option really but the CEO and everyone at the club are working towards ensuring that we get another partner,” he said.
Adding that “They had fulfilled what was in the contract until they indicated that they couldn’t stay in the market. We are not the only affected people, that’s something we could not have control over”.
Just like Betway Kobs, Express FC’s partnership with Betway yielded big when the red Eagles scooped last season’s Star Times Uganda Premier league trophy after spending over twelve years without winning the league. They also won the regional CECAFA Kagame Cup.p.
