The developing relationship between Rugby and Online gaming

Like so many top level sports, rugby now has a close association with the online gambling industry. However, this has not always been the case… the top UK betting firms tended to stir clear of rugby as a major market for many years as the results were seen as too predictable and the audience less pre-disposed to bet in the way football fans did.

This is something that changed with the increase in rugby betting options (i.e. betting on number of tries scored, margin of victory etc) and the popularity of online casino, poker and online peer to peer betting amongst rugby fans. As a result, the once unlikely alliance of rugby and online gambling appear to be getting closer by the day.

The first steps the bookmakers and gaming operators took into the world rugby tended to be promotions run on a national scale that were based around massive international events like the world cups in the 1990s, however, these were somewhat fleeting concessions to a one-off big event rather than a prolonged association with the game.

The advent of professionalism changed things, the need for sponsorship inevitably lead the rugby clubs and leagues to the bookmakers doorsteps, however it has taken some time for the relationship to truly get going.

This is perhaps due to a couple of reasons, firstly the rugby wanted reliable, regulated backers that could be seen as trustworthy and appropriate sponsors of the game and secondly the online gambling companies wanted to be involved in a sport that was high profile and attracting large audiences who had an interest in gambling online.

The first problem was solved by the regulation of online gambling by organizations such as the gambling commission and the law changes in the UK that allowed online gaming companies to advertise on television gave the whole industry a feel of mainstream respectability that made rugby more inclined to get into bed with the gaming companies.

The second issue has been solved by the continuing growth of rugby at not only an international level but also a club level, the growth has been to such has been an extent that coral.co.uk have now become sponsors of the Guinness Premiership and the Middlesex Sevens.

The company’s commitment to rugby is very big now, with Matt Dawson, who became the ambassador for Coral’s association with premiership rugby, running poker and casino nights after Guinness Premiership matches in which ordinary members of the public could play hands of blackjack or poker against professional rugby players.

While rugby may have some way to go before it is quite as intrinsically linked to online gaming as football is (there has yet to be a fully fledged gaming sponsor of a Premiership or International side) one feels it is only a matter of time before the two become further entwined.

And with both the rugby world and the gambling world getting something out of the relationship there appears to be no reason why the association should end any time soon.