Hull City, whose owner is a Turkish businessman, Acun Ilıcalı, has teamed up with Sportsbet.io, a crypto sports betting website with an extensive presence in Turkey.
The English soccer club is expanding its engagement potential The partnership specifically designates Sportsbet.io as the “Official Sports Betting Partner” for Turkey, offering international fans the chance to engage with the club while also incentivizing sports fans to engage with various activations launched by the partners. Hull City Head of Commercial Brett Carroll has welcomed the opportunity and said:
“This is a significant partnership with a reputable brand that again illustrates the increasing profile of Hull City in Türkiye and overseas.”
He noted that Sportsbet.io has been building a solid user base in the country and that the club was very happy to help the operator connect with those audiences over the next two seasons – the length of the deal.
“Working across football, the group take their responsibility to educate communities and highlight the importance of safe betting incredibly seriously, and I have no doubt this work will be evident in Hull throughout the partnership” Carroll added.
The partnership comes at a difficult time for English soccer, as clubs need to shed any associations with gambling clubs that specifically focus on displaying betting companies’ logos (the biggest incentive for companies to strike such deals in the first place).
English clubs have adopted a new Code of Conduct in a bid to calm societal qualms about the teams becoming a conduit for underage or problem gambling.
Although the ban is coming into force for the 2026/2027 season, clubs have been happily exploring such opportunities. Meanwhile, the country’s regulator, the UK Gambling Commission, has taken a dim view of money coming in from non-regulated entities.
Betting partnership with soccer is a fraught business in the UK Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest got in hot water over their partnership with Kaiyun Sports, a platform that does not hold a UK license, for example.
The partnership between Hull City and Sportsbet.io was welcomed by the operator’s director, Alexander Haig, who added that his company was a digital pioneer and that it was excited to work with the soccer club to engage fans in Türkiye.
Sportsbet.io has been working with other clubs, too. Recently, the operator announced a similar partnership with Newcastle United.
