Lottoland in seven figure deal with Manly Sea Eagles

Lottery betting firm Lottoland has agreed a seven-figure, three-year sponsorship deal with Australian professional rugby club Manly Warringah Sea Eagles (Manly).

Under the terms of the deal, Manly’s Brookvale Oval homeground, which is owned by the Northern Beaches Council, will be renamed Lottoland.

In addition, Lottoland will enjoy prominent branding on the top back of the Manly jersey, a prominent social media presence and in-stadia branding.

According to Manly, the club approached Lottoland some time ago to discuss a potential partnership.

“Lottoland has had an incredible first year in Australia, and now we want to invest back into the community,’’ Luke Brill, managing director of Lottoland, said.

“Partnering with Manly is our first step in a long-term commitment to support the Australian sporting community, and strengthens our position in this market.”

The deal has attracted the ire of gambling antagonist, South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon, who told ABC Australia: “The Manly Sea Eagles and Lottoland are in a race to the bottom, this goes even further than other brazen sponsorship deals just to rebadge an entire stadium.

“Requiring sporting commentators to simply spruik the brand is brazen and outrageous”.

But as Brill points out: “From our perspective we aren’t the first gambling company to sponsor a stadium, obviously there was a Centrebet stadium, formerly the Penrith stadium.

“So it has been done before and it’s a well-trodden route.”