The threat by SportPesa to stop sponsoring various sports federations and clubs is a wake-up call to sports enthusiasts and federations. It brings to the fore the urgency to explore other sponsorship opportunities for all sports disciplines. In the last few years, the proliferation of betting companies in Kenya has come with a lot of positives for local sports.
However, over-relying on one sector for sponsorship is fraught with dangers and this is so true in the current situation. It is high time that sports federations and clubs widen their net for sustainable ways of raising enough money to run their activities.
Some of these include membership recruitment, sale of merchandise as well as partnership with various stakeholders. For a long time, Barcelona Football Club deliberately operated without a shirt sponsor but still managed to exploit the brand to stay afloat.
The Government, which has imposed a 35 per cent tax on betting companies, must also ensure that the sports lottery is implemented. It is disheartening that so much money was spent to benchmark on the establishment of a sports lottery but little has been done to actualise it.
In some countries, the sports lottery has revolutionised running of sports and made it an income-generating activity. It is seven years since the Government promised to establish a lottery for sports and this is time to make it work.
