The Neymar case and how it affects the gaming industry

Such a radical change as the one that means that a player of the stature of Neymar leaves a team like FC Barcelona to face a new challenge in the Paris Saint Germain, also affects directly to the sector of sports betting.

One of the concerns of bookmakers - and also the amateur - is the marked decline in sports offer to bet on during the summer. This is accentuated when neither World Cup nor Eurocopa is celebrated, as it is precisely this year.

In addition, in the United Kingdom - with PaddyPower as a flagship - the bets with a marked component of "fun" have also popularized these secondary markets on signings of players and coaches, being common to find very active markets on the controversial relations between personalities of the English Premier League like Mourinho, Guardiola or Wenger, to which each season adds more actors.

The experience with Neymar this summer has surprised the sector by the protagonism of a team like PSG that has not practically concealed their intentions nor has had to deal with other teams to convince Neymar.

Media have followed the soap opera and have managed to bring to the surface issues that seemed forgotten to explain the apparent discontent of Neymar in FC Barcelona. The new renewal of Messi and a contract that would triple that of Neymar, the eagerness of leadership of the Brazilian, the role of his father, the money of Qatar. In the United Kingdom, operators explicitly promote these kinds of markets and try to motivate their customers to participate in these great debates about which shirt will wear a player.

In Spain, the possibility of betting on the future team of Neymar has been present since almost the same day that ended the League, in early June. Although at that moment the attention was centered on Cristiano Ronaldo, whose future seemed far from Madrid after a leak of his surroundings that showed the displeasure of the Portuguese with his fiscal situation, with a pending judgment in which he would be accused of defrauding 14 million Euros.

The danger of sponsorships

The Neymar case explains why sports betting operators - who currently generate in Spain 34% of the total revenue of local first division teams in La Liga - are forced to pay close attention to the environment and it is a great challenge to entrust their image in a club. In just one week, Cristiano Ronaldo went from being the best player in the history of the white club, to become a clear candidate to leave it. With Neymar the same thing happened: to be considered the natural relay of Messi as an icon of Barcelona, to become the most hated by fans from Figo.

Professional football is a sector that lives a complex reality. With emerging countries in audiences and interests such as China, the United States or the emirates of the Middle East, they are able to acquire and direct the destinations of the most important football clubs of the continent and as a result add enormous uncertainty about the future of players, competitions and the clubs themselves.

This scenario is not too favorable for long-term contracts. Betfair, the official betting house of FC Barcelona, it is supposed that has been attentive to the movements of the Brazilian star and, now, will be hoping that the 222 million euros that received Barcelona serve to reinforce the team with players that can help to enhance the messages that have led it to rely on the club as a platform of its brand worldwide.

Kanouté and Luis Suárez cases with 888.com

Kanouté, the star striker of Sevilla FC in the era of greater success and titles, carried out a curious controversy that the Neymar case could help to remember. The Sevillian player, Muslim, refused to take the advertising of 888.com in the last stage of its period in the club fruit of its religious convictions. In fact, during at least half a season, the advertising of 888 disappeared solely from his shirt.

It is worth mentioning that Neymar has been PokerStars ambassador for two years, and that although the current sponsor of PSG is Fly Emirates, a transfer of these characteristics leads him to a team where its money capital and president are from Qatar -a country where Islam is the state religion- could greatly alter how Neymar is seen in society. What could PokerStars think if the contract with the Brazilian were in force? What impact would the famous online poker room have on the Spanish market? And among Barcelona fans?

It is good to remember how after the famous bite of Luis Suarez to Chiellini in the Italy-Uruguay match of the World Cup 2014, in addition to the €80,000 sanction imposed by Adidas to his ambassador (Suárez), 888.com -which had already presented him as image of the brand for the next two years- was forced to rescind his contract.

Source: GMB / Infoplay