SportPesa assures Everton full support, promises English employees job security
Sports betting firm SportPesa has assured English Premier League side Everton it will honour its part of the jersey sponsorship deal despite challenges the company is facing in Kenya.
The Liverpool Echo has reported that SportPesa has also assured its workforce of 80 full-time staff at the Liver Building in Liverpool of their job security.
“SportPesa’s global operations, sponsorship, and partnership programmes, including in the UK, are not impacted by our decision to exit the Kenyan market. It, therefore, remains business as usual for SportPesa in Liverpool,” the firm said in a statement.
“We remain a committed sponsor of Everton Football Club and a proud partner to the club’s charity, Everton in the Community.”
Ironically, these assurances are coming in the wake of the company’s decision on Wednesday to fire more than 400 of its employees in Kenya.
This decision followed SportPesa’s announcement last week that it had closed its operations in Kenya after being hit with the new tax laws by the Kenyan authorities.
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This followed a stand-off with the government for months and the decision to impose a further 20% excise tax on all betting stakes.
SportPesa reportedly injects about Sh600 million each year to appear on Everton’s jerseys.
Curiously, the statement doesn’t refer to Hull City, another English side that boasts a sponsorship deal with SportPesa.
Besides Everton, SportPesa also enjoys partnerships with Tanzanian sides Simba and Yanga, South Africa’s Cape Town City and Italy’s Torino.