Sports sponsorships in the global betting and gaming industry never sleep. This week alone has already produced some major deals, which will be seen by millions of sports fans around the world.
This edition of Sponsor Spotlight will zoom in on Polymarket’s latest breakthrough in Europe, take a seat at the races with Betway and CopyBet, watch as SOFTSWISS speeds by, and try catching the home run ball of Caesars.
S.S. Lazio kicks off with Polymarket
Following on from the recent partnership between Polymarket and the North American business arm of LALIGA, we made an assumption that the road towards Europe for prediction market platforms may be more open than it first appeared.
The latest deal has now confirmed this. Italian football giant S.S. Lazio has placed the Polymarket logo on its front-of-shirt playing kits, and will continue to do so for the next two years.
This highlights the very complex regulatory nature of the prediction markets space. Italy forbids gambling sponsorships in sports, therefore Polymarket has been designated as the club’s official fan intelligence and digital insight partner – a strategy that may prove valuable for a future expansion in Europe.
Betway becomes mainline jockey
Horse racing in the UK has seen better days. The few years have been marked by volatile audience numbers, continuous campaigning against tax increases, and a number of operators withdrawing their support.
However, a revival might be on the horizon, with Betway being the latest operator to come to the rescue. The online sportsbook has just announced that it will sponsor a total of 16 races across Newmarket, Haydock Park and Market Rasen.
Even more importantly, the Super Group-owned brand will be the mainline partner of The Jockey Club for the full 2026 racing season. Is this a signal that the tide is turning for the better of horse racing?
CopyBet enters racetrack gallop
Again, providing a much needed lifeline for horse racing, CopyBet has entered the racetrack as the official partner of the Worcester Racecourse for this year’s National Hunt summer season.
Already a prominent supporter of the intrinsic British sport, the partnership builds on CopyBet’s existing commercial presence with racing deals across Carlisle, Exeter, Haydock, Huntington, and Kempton. Judging by the firm’s expanding sponsorship portfolio in racing, it is safe to say that CopyBet is here to stay, at least for now.
SOFTSWISS puts renowned driver at the wheel
Online gaming tech firm SOFTSWISS has happily announced the extension of its contract with Brazilian F1 legend Rubens Barrichello, who will continue to be the company’s Non-Executive Director in Latin America for a third year in a row.
A multiple Grand Prix winner, Barrichello is no stranger to high speeds and sharp corners, which are often synonyms with the fast-paced iGaming industry – both in terms of innovation and regulation.
This rings especially true when we talk about the driver’s home market of Brazil, where it nowadays seems that the track layout for the gambling sector takes a dramatically different shape every few days.
Caesars hits home run with MLB
Caesars Entertainment has managed to secure the highly-valued imagery rights to the roster of Major League Baseball (MLB) players, brokered through the MLB Players Inc. business arm.
As a result, both Caesars Sportsbook and the US branch of William Hill are now the official sportsbook partners of MLB Players across their online and retail operations.
This means that both platforms can integrate MLB player imagery into their gaming offers throughout the 2026 MLB season, tapping into a domestic MLB sports fanbase numbering more than 170 million people.
Spotlight rankings: Who’s standing out?
- Betway/The Jockey Club
This time around, we’ll bet on the wider political context to rank our list. As such, the politics around horse racing in the UK are not only closer to home for the team at SBC News, but have also proven to be the most dynamic.
That’s why we’re placing our horse racing deals at the top of the selection today, starting with Betway in no particular gradual significance, except maybe the alphabetical order.
- CopyBet/Worcester Racecourse
As promised, CopyBet is next in line. Again, the politics around horse racing in the UK have gone through their fair share of ups and downs in a matter of months, which the regular readers of SBC News will be painfully familiar with.
- S.S. Lazio/Polymarket
On the topic of political tension, the majority of Europe has taken a hostile stance against prediction markets and what they claim to represent. Regulators argue that they constitute gambling, while platforms like Polymarket claim they are a completely different beast – a digital insight partner in S.S. Lazio’s case.
Will challenging the European status quo in such a direct way prove a successful strategy to finally break the conception around prediction markets? Only time will tell. The fact is – cracks have begun to show.
- SOFTSWISS/Rubens Barrichello
As the next choice in our selection, this deal in no way represents a less intensive cluster of shifting politics than the rest of them. Barrichello has most likely swapped the wheel in an F1 car for a tablet instead, rotating it around in a similar fashion, as he tries to keep on top of the new gambling policies coming out of Brazil’s Parliament on a daily basis.
- Caesars/MLB
Last but not least in our list is the deal between Caesars and MLB. While not so politically involved, this partnership still managed to find its place on our list thanks to the major significance that MLB is for the US sports scene.
