Unibet Mystery Tour
Published: Saturday, February 10, 2007 Online-Casinos.com
MYSTERY TOUR
Questionable team jerseys in French cycle race sponsorship row
Organisational and control issues between organisers over French gambling advertising rules meant that riders in the Unibet.com cycling team had to start last week's GP de La Marseillaise in France with the team name replaced by an eye-catching question mark on their jerseys.
The silent protest made news headlines across not only France but Europe too, focusing attention on an apparent conflict between cycling’s international body, Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), and the organisers, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO).
ASO say UCI wants to keep control of the sport while UCI says it maintains the integrity of the teams participating in races by applying strict criteria to the award of their racing licenses.
The upshot of the row was that Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), had to request the Unibet team to cover up its logo because foreign betting and gambling operators are not allowed to advertise on French soil.
However, Enrico Carpani, spokesperson for UCI, accused ASO of confusing the situation as it was ASO, rather than the French authorities, that asked for Unibet’s logo to be covered.
“UCI starts from the principle that if there are legal issues we will always respect them,” he said. “But this wasn’t a problem last year, and if that was the case, Unibet would have known about it and its participation in the ProTour would have been assessed differently.”
He also praised Unibet’s attitude and behaviour during the whole affair. “Unibet has acted in exemplary fashion and with great dignity,” he said. Carpani would also not comment when asked whether the French gambling monopoly Francaise des Jeux (FDJ) had asked ASO to apply the ban.
Petter Nylander, chief executive of Unibet, said that for the first time ever, an online betting operator was getting positive coverage from the French mainstream media and described this week’s events as a potential tipping point. “In the long term this could be the starting point for a broader discussion in France as the man on the street and even journalists realise how outdated the attitude of the French authorities is.”
On top of the amounts of news print and advertising Unibet garnered this week, Nylander said he felt the FDJ and PMU were fighting to the last to protect their monopoly status. “We want dialogue, not confrontation, and this could be catalyst for more open debate,” he added.
Also making the advertising news, but taking a low profile and declining to comment officially was the Austrian publicly-listed betting group Bwin. The company refused to be drawn into confirming or denying a rumour that it had signed a three year, Euro 25 million shirt sponsorship with the famous Spanish football team Real Madrid.
In an indirect confirmation, a company spokesman said that an announcement would only be made once a contract had been signed, adding that Bwin was always interested in doing deals with top European football clubs. Bwin company executives were detained in a confrontation last year with French authorities relating to Bwin's shirt sponsorship of a Monaco football team.
