News

Sunday, 16 May 2010 23:58

The marketing and promotion of online gambling truly knows no bounds. One enterprising gambling company has opened a direct line to Heaven by sponsoring a confession box.

The British and Irish share a great sense of humour and are well known for taking the Mickey out of just about anything that can possibly have the Mickey taken out of it. But has that humour gone too far? It may seem like a scene out of a popular comedy show, but of you walk into St. Etheldreda Church in Newmarket, you can see for yourself the shiny new confessional box sponsored by none other than Ireland's popular sports bookie, Paddy Power.

For an Irish gambling company to go to the lengths of teaming up with the popular jockey and horseracing legend Frankie Dettori and putting £10,000 worth of confessional box into a Catholic church, the irony is exquisitely perfect. Father Michael Griffin, the Newmarket Parish Priest was the instigator and brains behind the clever sponsorship deal, although there is no telling if the Holy See is giving His stamp of approval on this arrangement.

Eccentric though this kind of marketing may be, the truth of the matter is that this could very well be the way things are going as the enormous market that comprises gambling both live and online continues to grow and fill all the spaces that are there to be filled. The many gambling companies are spending ever more money on traditional forms of advertising and most major brands now runs their own TV ads. This is a situation in which it is fast becoming ever more difficult to get the attention of your audience and get your own brand to stand out from the crowd.

The solution may well be the kind of original sponsorships that Paddy Power has come up with, although it makes you wonder what the next big eyebrow raiser will be. Sunday Prayers that are interrupted by a word from their online bingo sponsor? Holy Communion overlooked by giant online casino banners hanging on the church walls? Funeral hearses with online poker ads emblazoned along the sides of the vehicle, with the by-line, "He was all in at the turn, by sunk before he made it to the river."

The online bingo market in the UK is highly competitive in nature and has previously spurred all kinds of eye catching promotions. It now appears that the bingo and gambling companies are looking to the heavens to find their inspiration.