Two companies that act as the holding companies of BC.Game, the front-of-shirt sponsor of Premier League club Leicester City, have been declared bankrupt.
Blockdance BV and Small House BV, who operate the cryptocurrency gambling platform, have been given the bankruptcy order after ‘failing to meet their financial obligations’ – that is, failing to pay out on a pair of big wins.
Leicester City have claimed that the issue will ‘not impact’ their sponsorship agreement with BC.Game, but once again the dangers of partnering with a little-known offshore betting firm have revealed themselves.
Game Over?
It was back in July that the Foxes announced their new deal with BC.Game, which was said to be worth £30 million per season.
The agreement, described at the time by the football club as the ‘most valuable’ in their history, saw the BC.Game logo added to the front of their first team playing shirts for the 2024/25 season, with the deal to continue into the 2025/26 campaign as well.
Leicester City x https://t.co/lKQlZEv24j 🤝
Embarking upon an exciting journey we’ve started together 🙏 pic.twitter.com/fJifC9LCP8
— Leicester City (@LCFC) November 1, 2024
Leicester welcomed the firm on board by describing them as a ‘community based, online cryptocurrency gaming platform’, while noting their pre-existing partnership with the Argentine Football Association.
But less than six months later, the two firms behind BC.Game have been declared bankrupt by authorities in the country in which they are licensed, Curacao.
They had been taken to court by two punters, who claimed that they were owed £532,000 and £1.08 million respectively from winning bets. At the time of writing, BC.Game – nor Blockdance BV and Small House BV – had failed to pay up.
However, the operator has revealed they plan to appeal the bankruptcy order, claiming ‘several inconsistencies’ in the evidence presented to the court hearing. A spokesperson for BC.Game also hinted cryptically that the ‘malicious lawsuit’ may have been ‘… orchestrated by external forces aiming to exploit the legal system for unjust gain.’
In a press statement, Leicester City have defended their sponsor, claiming that the ongoing case is ‘administrative in nature’ and not a reflection of ‘concerns with their financial standing.’
“BC.Game have provided the club with the strongest assurances that they are actively appealing this case,” a spokesperson for the Foxes revealed.
“BC.Game have further assured us that they have no issues with liquidity and that they remain fully committed to meeting their ongoing contractual and financial obligations, including to the club.”
Leicester fans will be certainly hoping so. These sponsorship deals are vital to a club like the Foxes in meeting their profit & sustainability obligations: between the 2020/21 and 2022/23 seasons, they made a loss of nearly £130 million – only just avoiding a points deduction upon their return to the Premier League this season.
Offshore Energy
At the time of writing, neither BC.Game – nor either of its holding companies – is licensed by the UK Gambling Commission. The betting site is blocked to customers on UK soil.
And increasingly it’s these offshore betting firms that are, either directly or indirectly, getting the football clubs that they sponsor into hot water.
Back in 2021, Norwich City revealed a sponsorship deal with Asian gambling firm BK8.But the firm’s overtly sexual marketing did not sit well with the Canaries’ family club stance, and the agreement was ended just three days later.
But by 2023, BK8 had signed another sponsorship deal with a Premier League club; this time it was Aston Villa, who put pen to paper on a contract worth £40 million a season.
At the start of the 2024/25 season, more than half of the Premier League’s 20 clubs had a gambling firm on the front of their shirts. Although West Ham have a long-running partnership with the UK licensed Betway, and Everton’s deal is with North American powerhouse Stake.com, the rest are with offshore firms based in Asia or Africa.
They benefit from advertising to TV audiences of millions all around the world, although there are fears that such agreements are pushing some UK-based punters into the black market as they sign up for an account with their club’s sponsor.
Bournemouth was the latest EPL club to join the party in the summer, welcoming little-known operator bj88. They are reportedly paying double what the Cherries’ previous sponsor, Dafabet, did.
And alongside Leicester in celebrating ‘record breaking’ sponsorship deals are Wolves and Crystal Palace, who have welcomed on board their own offshore gambling benefactors in Vietnamese firm DeBet and Asian group Net88 respectively.
By the beginning of the 2026/27 Premier League season, gambling sponsorship will be obsolete after the 20 member clubs agreed to voluntarily prohibit such deals.
But how much more strife will they have gotten into the meantime?