特约记者发自英国曼彻斯特

每天上下班开车，我都会经过曼彻斯特郊区的一个小镇。那里人流不多，一片片陈旧的矮房和狭窄的街道，呈现出曼彻斯特市区居民梦寐以求的安宁。一个清闲的工作日，我决定下车去逛逛，顺便吃顿英式早餐。

走了大约200米，我在街角发现了几个神情恍惚的中年人，他们正急不可耐向身边经过的每个路人乞讨，走到我身边，他们给出的理由是：你能不能给我些吃饱饭的零钱？我当然清楚这是怎么回事，因为他们身后不远处，正好有一家博彩行。

我继续前行，寻觅早餐。大约100米后，我又看见了几名垂头丧气的年轻人，其中一个紧紧抱着头，嘴里蹦出各种脏话。不出意外，他身后也是一家博彩行。

在那个小镇上，就有至少10家博彩行。每年，英国有成千上万个家庭因赌博惨遭破产。

英超有10支球队主赞助商是博彩公司

自从烟草赞助被明令禁止，酒类赞助遭遇严格限制后，如今大约有一半的英超队伍球衣胸前，出现了网络博彩公司的标识。讽刺的是，英足总明令规定：不准任何职业球员参与博彩行为。这意味着，球员胸膛只充当展示博彩标识的广告位。

作为世界上最昂贵的足球联赛，英超球衣赞助的价位自然也鹤立鸡群。本赛季，英超20支球队的球衣赞助共价值2.26亿英镑，遥遥领先于位列第二的德甲联赛——1亿英镑。平均下来，每支英超球队的球衣赞助收益高达1200万镑，是西甲球队的3倍，后者为400万；法甲球队是350万；意甲队伍则只有区区300万。这其中有大量的金额，来自博彩公司。

事实上，博彩业进入球衣赞助领域的时间不长。自英超成立后的第十个年头，即2002年，第一家球衣被博彩公司Betfair赞助的球队才出现。很显然，那是一支伦敦球队，当然不是切尔西或者阿森纳，而是富勒姆。

英超赞助商一览表

近几年，博彩行进军英超的步伐明显加快。2013年，只有三家英超球队接受博彩公司赞助。但今年，共有10家俱乐部成为了网络博彩品牌的合作伙伴。

足球，尤其是英超联赛，已经取代赛马，成为了全英国投注最活跃的运动。据一项调查显示，全英国大约有210万人参与在线赌博，年价值高达6.5亿英镑，全球在线投注总价值超过6万亿英镑。

英超广阔的海外影响力，自然受到这些商家们的青睐。毕竟，赞助球衣是一项相对廉价并有效的广告宣传手段。

与之产生的收益相比，赞助英超球队球衣的成本，简直是九牛一毛。觊觎华语市场多年的在线博彩网站138.com，每年只需要付给沃特福德150万英镑。中国资本控股的西布罗姆维奇，只收了UK-K8.com即只有华人认识的“凯发”，250万英镑。

他们的赞助策略很清晰——瞄准英超小球会。英超排名后12位的俱乐部中，无博彩公司赞助的仅2家——米德尔斯堡和莱斯特城。米堡的球衣赞助商是一家典当行，而莱斯特城的胸前广告，是俱乐部泰国老板自己的产业，仅售100万镑（全英超最少）。

莱斯特城胸前广告最低

博彩公司有钱，但大俱乐部不愿意接受他们的慷慨。雪佛兰每年支付给曼联的的球衣赞助费高达4700万镑，横滨轮胎提供给切尔西4000万镑，他们完全没必要接受赌博公司的协议。

精于计算的博彩公司，不会轻易复制奥地利品牌Bwin的乱花钱套路。后者曾在单赛季支付1800万镑获得皇马胸前广告，他们还给了AC米兰一份价格差不多的赞助合同。但合作并没有持续太久，因为阿联酋航空，很快用一份高得离谱的报价取代了他们——皇马和AC米兰也更倾向于保持品牌的正面形象。

业界对Bwin的愚蠢嗤之以鼻，因为他们普遍意识到一条花小钱做大广告的规律：再小的英超球队，每个赛季都会和诸如曼联、切尔西、阿森纳、利物浦这样的豪门过招两次，而这些场次，通常会借着电视信号走向全球。举个例子，沃特福德对阵曼联，沃特福德胸前的广告露出频率其实是和曼联一样的，而其价格却仅为红魔的3%。

唯一一家试图和大球会保持紧密关系的博彩公司是Mansion（即明逊），他们与热刺之间的合作长达4年。然而在结束合同后，他们立刻调转策略，随大流地将目标瞄准两家中小型球会——伯恩茅斯与水晶宫。总部位于菲律宾的Dafabet（大发），也采用了相同的策略，分别拿下了桑德兰和伯恩利的胸前广告。

目前，博彩公司在英超投下的最大一笔球衣赞助费是600万镑，对象则是刚刚搬迁至伦敦碗的西汉姆联。相比联赛平均值，这个价格仍然称得上物美价廉。

博彩公司最大代言客户西汉姆联

然而，英国博彩行业的高光时刻，已时日不多。上世纪80年代统治赛车行业的烟草广告，正逐渐被彻底抹清痕迹。F1车队麦克拉伦的赛车博物馆内，“万宝路”字样已经从老款赛车和历史照片中去除，彻底沦为了历史漂白的牺牲品。

一度，整个英超联赛都由酒业品牌卡灵Carling赞助，但目前，埃弗顿是整个联赛中唯一一家在胸前张贴酒类广告的队伍。

政府很有可能会出台政策，限制博彩业。一些分析家预测，博彩公司将在10年之内遭受与烟草广告同样的待遇。

每天，全英国有成千上万个落魄者，游荡在赌博行门口。媒体越来越关注赌博危害，走在舆论前端的英超联赛，自然也会深感压力：作为这个国家的价值输出窗口，英超联赛有必要为自己的正面形象，做出长远考量。

Tim Rich：英国体育作家，《独立报》高级足球记者。长期从事英超俱乐部及欧洲重大体育赛事深度报道

英文原作赏析：

How Gaming Companies Impact Premier League

By Tim Rich

It is an industry that causes thousands of people in Britain to go bankrupt every year and forces many thousands more into economic hardship. Every time I pass the small town in Manchester suburban, I’d recall the depressed wanderers near casinos and betting centres.

And yet while tobacco sponsorship is outlawed and sponsorship by firms selling alcohol is severely restricted, half the Premier League teams have their shirts sponsored by internet gambling companies. These are all companies that every Premier League player is forbidden to use because of FA restrictions that forbid professional footballers to gamble.

As befits the wealthiest football league in the world, the Premier League’s shirt sponsorship deals are the biggest there are. This season the league’s 20 teams earned £226m from shirt sponsors, compared to £100m in the Bundesliga, the next biggest earners.

The average Premier League club earns around £12m a season from its shirt sponsors. In La Liga it is £4m, in France £3.5m and in Serie A it is a mere £3m.

However, gambling came late to the idea of shirt sponsorship. It was not until 2002 – ten years after the Premier League was founded - that a gaming company, Betfair, agreed to sponsor the shirts of one of its clubs. And that club was not Chelsea or Arsenal but Fulham.

In recent seasons the number of gaming companies wanting to become involved in the Premier League has exploded. In 2013 there were just three. This year ten of the Premier League’s clubs have their shirts sponsored by internet gaming firms.

It is not hard to see why. Football, and especially Premier League football, has overtaken horseracing as the sport that attracts most betting activity in Britain. Some 2.1 million people in Britain gamble online and the value of those bets has been estimated at £650m a year. Globally the value of the online betting industry has been estimated at more than £600 billion.

Given the vast overseas audiences the Premier League attracts, sponsoring a team shirt is very cost effective way for the gambling companies to make their products stand out.

Gaming companies have discovered that you can sponsor the shirt of some Premier League clubs for very little. The online casino 138.com, which has long targeted the Chinese market, pays just £1.5m a year for its deal with Watford. West Bromwich Albion, which is Chinese owned, is paid just £2.5m by UK-K8.com to sponsor its shirts.

The gaming companies have targeted the Premier League’s smaller clubs. Only two members of the bottom 12 clubs - Middlesbrough and Leicester - are not sponsored by gaming companies. Middlesbrough are sponsored by a firm of pawnbrokers while Leicester, the reigning champions, have the smallest shirt sponsorship deal of any of the league’s clubs, at £1m a year. Their problem is that the club’s owners are also their sponsors.

Gaming firms simply cannot afford the money to sponsor the Premier League’s biggest clubs. Chevrolet pay Manchester United £47m a year for their image to appear on the club’s shirts. Yokohama Tyres are paying Chelsea £40m a season for the same privilege.

No betting firm has tried to copy the Austrian online gambling firm, Bwin, who paid £18m a season to sponsor Real Madrid’s shirts and organised a similar package for AC Milan. Both those deals ended when Bwin were unable to compete with huge sums offered to Real Madrid and Milan by Emirates Airways.

However, those 10 smaller clubs that are sponsored by gambling companies will play Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea and those games will be televised across the globe. When Watford play Manchester United, Watford’s shirts get as much exposure as United’s and for about three per cent of the cost.

The only gambling company that tried to tie up with a major club was Mansion who sponsored Tottenham for four years. However, Mansion discovered that it made more sense to sponsor two medium-sized Premier League clubs – Bournemouth and Crystal Palace – than one big one. Dafabet, an online gaming and casino company based in the Philippines, have also sponsored two clubs, Sunderland and Burnley.

The largest amount any of these gaming companies paid out was £6m to West Ham. It is efficient and relatively cheap direct marketing to a core target audience – young men who watch and like to bet on football.

However, the gambling industry in Britain knows it is living on borrowed time.

Tobacco advertising is now so shunned that, at the headquarters of the McLaren Formula One team, the name ‘Marlboro’ has been removed from the cars in their museum that dominated the sport in the 1980s.

Where once the whole Premier League was sponsored by a brewery – Carling – only one team, Everton, now has its shirts sponsored by a brewer.

It is very likely that there will be increasing restrictions on betting. Some analysts predict that in ten years’ time, gambling will have almost the same restrictions as tobacco advertising. As the media reveal more and more horror stories of people whose lives have been ruined by gambling, the pressure on Premier League clubs to choose a less controversial partner will become harder and harder to resist.

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