Quote from: stompix on July 15, 2025, 04:52:02 PM

I just opened a topic about how 14 out of 16 teams in the Romanian league have a casino as main sponsors, #rdluffy showed me that is nothing I should be amazed, as Brazil tops that, and then #Hispo said something that made me google

Quote from: Hispo on July 15, 2025, 04:35:17 PM

I wonder if the European Union would eventually step into the level of advertisement casinos are reaching in these leagues,

Well, get your tinfoil hat ready for what I hit:

Quote

Romanian sports betting group Superbet, founded in 2008 and still controlled by entrepreneur Sacha Dragic, with Blackstone investment fund as a strategic investor, announced the appointment of Hans-Holger Albrecht, an experienced executive who served as Deezer CEO during 2015-2021, as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Hans-Holger Albrecht is the brother of the European Commission's President Ursula von der Leyen

Now, Romanian casino powered by Blackstone hiring the brother of the EU commissioner as second in charge man was not on my bingo list!

Do you think gambling companies will get to have enough money, powerful connections to manage what even the tobacco industry failed at, complete domination of advertising in every sport that no country would find a majority in their parliament to even issue a draft law against it?
So, forget the oil/weapons/pharma cartels, what do you think of gambling companies starting in the EU, the same type of lobby the US is known for?
This is an unrestricted tinfoil topic, I'm not going to argue against even the wildest theories!

What has any of what you said got to do with tinfoil? It's how the capitalism system works. Clubs need money to buy the best players which allows them to reach #1, casinos make a lot of money which requires a constant influx of new customers and football fans make ideal candidates because they love to spend money on such things. It's rather simply really and it should be no surprise that private equity funds like Blackstone have come to the same conclusion. Casinos are basically a license to print money as once you are running the capital costs are fairly capped so it just depends on the "bang for your buck" that you get from advertising. Football fans hit the 18-65 men demographic who like sport, and many of these casinos will have a bookmaker operation as well - which is highly profitable.