GVC and BETDAQ donate shirt sponsorship to charity

Betting exchange BETDAQ has donated sponsorship space on the front of EFL League One football club Sunderland’s jerseys to a charity as part of parent company GVC Holdings’ Changing for the Bettor corporate social responsibility drive.

BETDAQ signed up as the club’s front-of-shirt sponsor in July last year, but after GVC recently revealed that it is to cease football sponsorship across all of its brands, the betting exchange has taken a step back.

Instead, from the 2019-20 season, Sunderland players will carry the Children with Cancer UK logo on the front of their home and away shirts. The branding will also feature on adult replica jerseys.

Sunderland will wear the new shirts for the first time at Wembley Stadium during the play-off final against Charlton Athletic on Sunday, with the winner gaining promotion to the second-tier Championship.

GVC unveiled the CSR initiative in January, with the idea of investing more in responsible gaming technology, support research and introduce new, voluntary controls across the business to ensure it operates in a fair and sustainable manner. 

This week, GVC stepped up its campaign by partnering the Safer Online Gambling Group, a body set up by a former gambling addict to help raise awareness of gambling-related harm.

Last month, CEO Kenneth Alexander also declared his support for an outright ban on all sportsbook broadcast advertising in the UK. The operator was the first to publicise its support for a pre-watershed advertising ban in October 2018, and is backing a ban on all live and repeated sporting events, with an exemption for horse racing.