The largest single growth sector in sporting partnership with commerce over the past five years has been with betting companies.
In fact the prevalence now of companies involved in online sports book services or casino and other forms of betting has, in certain areas been the biggest new entrant to the world of sport since mobile telecoms.
When you consider the presence in Irish sport alone of Vodafone, 3, O2 and Eircom that is a significant achievement.  It is based on a number of fundamental factors that make sport and betting so well suited at a commercial level.
The first and most obvious is that betting relies on sport to provide the platform on which large parts of the service and subsequent profits are based.  The second is that those profits are large and growing rapidly at a time when many businesses are in retreat.
The latest annual profits for Betfair were more than €50 million.  Even that figure was only 75% of what William Hill spent on marketing in the past 12 months, primarily driving people towards the massive potential of mobile betting.
Most of the marketing is done in and around sport.  Watching a live Premier League game on Sky you will be bombarded with messages from Bet 365 and Ray Winston, Victor Chandler, Ladbrokes through their tie in with Chris Kamara and their excitable Spanish commentator and Betfair and William Hill among many others.
Even in the United States where sports betting is largely illegal, Paddy Power was active in skywriting tweets across the Chicago skyline over Medinah during the Ryder Cup.  An attempt to ground the planes by a local politician only added to the ‘buzz’ around the campaign.
Even if the TV camera’s sought to avoid paying too much attention, the world of social media enabled the marketing get through to a core audience, in an environment where betting was easily accessible online or through a mobile device.
Powers did this with no payment or benefit to the European or PGA Golf tours but the importance of sporting content means the sector will always be on the lookout for new ideas and relationships.
If you look at the main sponsors of the Barclays Premier League you will find Swansea, Wigan, West Ham and Aston Villa all carry betting brands on their home shirts.   That is only the tip of the iceberg with every club having an official betting partner that can range in the value of the deal from as low as €150,000 up to the multi million deal signed by Austrian company bWin to be associated with Man United.
Paddy Power is the official partner of Man City and Everton while Boylesports had a previous shirt deal with Sunderland.
The potential of betting sponsorships extends around the world.  The Turkish state monopoly betting service Sportoto sponsors the domestic soccer leagues in that country, investing over €20 million each year for the privilege.
There has traditionally been a moral question over the promotion of betting and gaming but commitments to responsible promotion and the hard cash on offer have softened that resistance in recent years.  Last month, NFL teams in the US were allowed take on a limited form of partnership with local based casino’s, and when an organisation like that begins to see the advantages then the growth of sports betting involvement as a sponsorship partner is going to grow yet more.
The next Sport for Business members’ round table will look at the relationship between betting and sport in Ireland.  It takes place on October 9th at the head office of Betfair in Dublin 4.
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