Crown Resorts floating sponsorship offers to Victorian AFL clubs

With the 2023 season on the horizon, casino giant Crown Resorts has reportedly offered sponsorships to the Australian Football League (AFL) and several Victorian clubs that pledged to reject money generated from gambling firms.

The ‘Love the Game, Not the Odds’ campaign was first launched in 2014 to protect young people from gambling exposure. The program provided Victorian clubs with government funding and, in return, expected them to reject sponsorship from gambling firms.

Over 735 professional and amateur sporting clubs in Victoria, covering cricket, Australian rules football, netball, soccer, and more, have signed the program’s charter. All of the Victorian AFL clubs contacted by Crown agreed to the contract.

Geelong and the Western Bulldogs have reportedly rejected Crown’s offer. Carlton, North Melbourne and St Kilda have, however, not crossed out collaborating with the casino operator.

Essendon disclosed that Crown had not reached out, while Hawthorn, Collingwood, Richmond and Melbourne are yet to say anything concerning the matter.

The AFL and Crown previously had a partnership that included the staging of several major league events, such as the annual Brownlow Medal count, at the operator’s Melbourne casino complex. However, the AFL recently released a statement declaring that it did not intend to partner with the company anymore.

“The AFL confirms details of a Crown Resorts sponsorship proposal was discussed at a recent club commercial meeting and sent to club sponsorship managers for an expression of interest,” the statement read.

“The communication had not been considered or approved by the AFL Executive.”

While Crown did not reveal the details of its sponsorship offers, the company said it had a long-standing relationship with the league in addition to several clubs. Crown also said it sought to explore partnership opportunities with several companies while regaining its footing in the Australian sports industry.

“As part of Future Crown, and as we once again take a central role at the heart of all things sports and entertainment in our cities, we are always exploring venue and hospitality partnership opportunities with a range of organisations,” Crown said.

In November 2022, Crown Melbourne was fined a record $120 million for violating the responsible gambling laws in Victoria spanning over a decade. The company was accused of consistently neglecting to stop patrons from gambling for lengthy periods.

Crown was found unsuitable to hold a licence in 2021 after a royal commission discovered that the gaming company was guilty of significant procedural breaches. Some of these include underpaying gambling taxes, mistreating patrons with problem gambling, and promoting gambling overseas illegally.

Crown is currently locked in a lawsuit filed by Australian regulator AUSTRAC for alleged involvement in serious and systemic non-compliance with the country’s rules on counterterrorism financing and anti money laundering.

Shane Lucas, the CEO of the Love the Game, Not the Odds, explained that the program was intended to fight “the normalization of sports gambling”. He also said that if a club signed the program’s Charter to reject sponsorship deals from gaming companies, agreeing to partnerships would be a violation of the contract.

“Love the Game partners sign up to a charter that states they will not accept sponsorship, either revenue or in-kind, from gambling providers,” Lucas explained.

“If a Love the Game partner did so, this would be contrary to the spirit of the program and a breach of contract.”

Despite stating it had no business with Crown, the AFL is not involved with Love the Game, Not the Odds. The league, which has Sportsbet as one of its biggest sponsors, removed an advertisement for the program from its website last year.

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