Indian iGaming Firm Khelraja Partner With Spanish Football Club
Author:
Muhammad Gregory
The well-renowned iGaming company Khelraja have today officially announced a new partnership with a major Spanish Football Club. The side in question is the famous Sevilla FC who have a rich history in Spanish and European football as an extremely talented side with a large worldwide fanbase. Khelraja is delighted to announce the acquisition as the new season is underway while also being a prime opportunity to merge the two brands together and produce some stellar marketing campaigns among other things. This is a big moment for the Asian firm as they look to bolster their position in the local market while also acquiring new customers further afield and Europe and America.
Khelraja have recently announced a new special sponsorship with Spanish football titans Sevilla FC, this deal will commence upon the start of the 2023/2024 season and will include advertising and merchandising partnerships. ?jorono/Pixabay
Despite being an already successful firm in the Asian market, Khelraja has been making plenty of moves to increase its market share and cast a wider net to attract customers in other parts of the world. Asia is of course a massive hotspot for online gambling as well as football, so this makes complete sense from a business perspective. This has the potential to be extremely beneficial for them as they are constantly looking for new ways to expand the ever-growing empire across the sea, advertising and merchandising agreements have been made to provide a wider variety of distribution of branding and marketing assets for the company.
The Asian gambling market is a confusing space, to say the least. While many companies operate freely without restriction, there is plenty that is heavily penalized by certain governments and nations looking to over-regulate the industry. This has become a problem, especially in China where companies are required to abide by an extremely strict set of rules that can be detrimental to the expansion of a business. Online gambling and casinos are actually banned in China so navigating starting an online betting platform are difficult if you’re within their jurisdiction. This is why Khelraja decided to open up in India very early on in its development to hopefully avoid the harsh judgement of the Chinese government.
All this being said many betting firms do still succeed while being in China, they are often benefitted from a mutual association with European businesses as many board members and executives have connections to companies in London and the United States. For example, W88 secured a deal with Premier League side Fulham FC, which has already proven to be an extremely beneficial partnership for both sides with W88’s logo on the front of the home and away strip for the London club. This deal came about through shared contacts on Fulham’s and W88’s boards of executives.
Through enough perseverance and communication, the Khelraja negotiation team managed to secure a lucrative deal between themselves and Sevilla FC. The talks took place mostly between Seville and Mumbai with representatives travelling between the two extremely frequently to ensure both parties were satisfied with the arrangement. These deals are often extremely difficult to navigate as there are a lot of moving parts and sub-sections that must be ironed out before an agreement can be signed. These could include questions such as how involved the Khelraja brand will be with Sevilla FC’s merchandising among many others. It’s believed that these talks took over 5 months to come to a final decision, so it was not an easy journey by any means for either side.
Spain and India Come Together
This is the first time that a Spanish football side has signed an agreement to be sponsored by an Indian betting company and neither party could be any happier with the outcome. Most importantly this arrangement seems to have been well received by fans of Sevilla FC, with many of them impressed by the professionalism of the announcement as well as the reputation of Khelraja within the betting industry. While some deals at other clubs have been poorly received, Sevilla FC is lucky that they have such a receptive fanbase, Khelraja has also been respectful with their marketing, not trying to encroach on the club’s branding and merchandise.
Despite all the positivity surrounding the deal, Sevilla themselves are enduring one of their worst starts to a La Liga season in years. They currently sit 18th in the table with only 10 points, having only won 2 out of their first 12 matches. The fans are extremely displeased, to say the least and it’s easy to see why. Sevilla FC has one of the richest histories in the country and they have been extremely proficient in European competitions having won the Europa League a record 6 times, famously beating Liverpool 3-1 in the 2016 final. This hasn’t affected any aspect of the deal by any means, and everything is still set to go ahead at the start of next season.
However, the threat of relegation from the top flight of Spanish football may leave the deal in jeopardy as Khelraja may look to move its brand elsewhere. Once any club drops out of the top flight of professional European football then they are likely to have a massive reduction in merchandise sales as well as media attention and worldwide audience. At the moment, Sevilla FC is one of the most popular football clubs in Spain, only falling behind the giant institutions of Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Atletico Madrid. But if they were to be relegated, it could seriously affect the potential for worldwide brand attention and therefore Khelraja’s investment into the club could be for nothing.
India’s Thriving Gambling Industry
In general, India has always been known for having an abundance of safely run and managed online betting companies that do a good job of supporting customers and promoting the healthy use of apps and websites. The government are also closely linked with industry but manages to maintain a distance from proceedings. The regulation is fair but not too strict, allowing businesses to thrive on their own terms. They are also extremely responsive to any exploitive gambling marketing which has become far too common in other Asian countries, it is viewed with extreme negativity and therefore companies only try and produce content for the healthy promotion of their service without being intrusive.
For the benefit of the Asian gambling industry, it would be extremely beneficial if both sides were able to maintain the agreement and continue working together for many years to come. India itself has been commonly disregarded by the media surrounding the industry in favour of China and Japan where some of the biggest online casinos in the continent exist. But Khelraja has done wonders for their local casino landscape and has helped promote a strain of healthy gambling that a lot of other businesses in the same sector could absolutely benefit from.
