- Jose Mourinho joins Paddy Power to promote Daily Jackpot
- Over half of EPL teams have gambling sponsorships
- Betway is the biggest gambling sponsor in the EPL with a £10-million West Ham deal
Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has joined hands with Paddy Power to promote the Daily Jackpot.
Don’t Think You Are Special: Paddy Power and Jose Mourinho
Paddy Power, the betting agency owned by Flutter Entertainment, has launched a new marketing campaign featuring Jose Mourinho, the former manager of a number of English Premier League (EPL) teams, including Chelsea and Manchester United, as well as La Liga’s Real Madrid. The campaign kicked off on September 26 and it hit social media and print on September 27.
Since he was forced out of the Red Devils in the 2018/2019 EPL season, Mourinho has seemed more than happy to be part of the soccer world, although his latest decision is a far call from any of his previous participations.
Mourinho will specifically help Paddy Power to promote the brand’s Daily Jackpot product in the hopes of spreading awareness and building better following for the product. Similarly, the Daily Jackpot is inspired by Mourinho’s own moniker, ‘The Special One’. Yet, the punchline comes in to dash all hopes with a simple ‘Don’t think you are special.’
The Daily Jackpot will be generated through Paddy Power’s own network of games, and every day the jackpot is expected to grow further.
More Marketing, Save Our Shirt
Recently, Paddy Power was caught in a hard place with the Football Association, after a team the betting agency sponsored – Huddersfield – was fined £50,000 (ca $61,450) for sporting the Paddy Power’s logo in a friendly game against Rochdale.
The FA didn’t take fondly to Huddersfield decision. Paddy Power was quick to react and say that it would continue sponsoring teams in English football, but wouldn’t expect or insist on the teams displaying sponsorship logos on their official playing kits.
As to the particular occasion, the FA called the publicity stunt irresponsible, especially in the light of a pre-agreed watershed ban that would protect underage individuals from being exposed to betting and gambling products.
Gambling in Football’s Growing
Meanwhile, gambling in football has been growing at a quick rate. Presently, a number of English Premier League team and lower-tier teams, including:
- West Ham United F.C.
- Stroke City F.C.
- Sunderland A.F.C.
- West Bromwich Albion
- Watford F.C.
- Huddersfield
This list hardly exhausts all teams that currently have a gambling sponsorship. In the EPL alone, that includes over half of all teams with the highest gambling sponsorship going to West Ham by Betway for £10 million.
Everton has the second-largest sponsorship with SportPesa for estimated £9 million. While most of the top-seed teams would refrain from tying up sponsorships with gambling companies, a fair number of soccer teams already have strong ties. Now, Manchester United’s former manager is also one to promote gambling as well, which will definitely be taken as a controversial decision.