Interpreting the 2025 Sponsorship Strategies of the Five Major Gaming Brands: Traditional Giants' High Exposure Tactics vs Web3 Global Fan Community Building

This article organizes the sponsorship strategies of the top five online gambling brands in 2025, comparing the regional in-depth and fiat compliance of traditional giants like Bet365 and Betsson with BCGame's Web3 fan community model powered by the $BC Platform Token. Will traditional giants accelerate their embrace of Web3 in the future? (Background: League of Legends S15 Championship Battle Prediction Market Preview: T1 has a high probability of narrowly defeating KT 3:1, with Faker and Oner playing key roles.) (Background Supplement: DraftKings enters the prediction market, collaborating with Polymarket as a clearing house.) The sponsorship of online gambling platforms related to global sports in 2025 is undergoing a paradigm shift driven by technology. For a long time, this field has been dominated by traditional gambling giants like Bet365, Betsson, and Paddy Power, focusing on regional in-depth cultivation and brand compliance in mature markets such as North America and Europe. Data shows that a new front is quietly forming: gambling platforms like BCGame that deeply integrate Web3 are leveraging their borderless and decentralized characteristics to expand globally. Their strategy is no longer limited to jersey or sideline logo exposure, but rather using sponsorship as a springboard for the blockchain ecosystem to expand into the mainstream world. This article analyzes the sponsorship strategies of five internationally renowned gambling brands in 2025 and explores how BCGame builds a new sponsorship model that integrates Web3 experience through its Platform Token $BC. Traditional gambling giants: regional in-depth and high-exposure strategies. The sponsorship strategies of traditional gambling giants in 2025 also revolve around market penetration, regional stability, and brand compliance: 1. Bet365: Active expansion in high-profile leagues and compliance risks. Bet365's sponsorship activities demonstrate its consistent global ambition, especially to support its newly opened markets in the United States. In North America, they signed a multi-year agreement with MLB's St. Louis Cardinals to become its official mobile sports betting partner, coinciding with Bet365's service launch in Missouri in December 2025, quickly building brand awareness in the new region by leveraging the massive traffic and existing trust of traditional sports leagues. At the same time, they are also focusing on women's basketball, becoming the official sports betting company for the WNBA's Indiana Fever and Chicago Sky, following the trend of rising attention to women's events in American sports, trying to seize opportunities in a rapidly growing and relatively less competitive market. In Europe, Bet365 takes a localized approach, becoming the official partner of Bundesliga teams Stuttgart and Hamburg. Additionally, in Brazil, through sponsoring the Paulistão league and Cazé TV, they are actively entering the South American sports media market. However, this year also highlights the risks of traditional sponsorship: due to player gambling investigations, Bet365's logo was quietly removed from the Cleveland Guardians in July 2025, underscoring the potential risks and uncertainties brought about by the binding of brands to league compliance standards in high-profile leagues. 2. Betsson: A model of regional depth and local engagement. Betsson chooses the route of regional in-depth cultivation, concentrating resources on mid-level leagues with strong local influence to build high brand loyalty. They have deepened their leadership in Greek basketball, becoming the official naming partner and main sponsor of ARIS BC, as well as sponsoring Mykonos BC. This deep investment in specific sports in a single region aims to make the brand an indispensable part of the local sports ecosystem, gaining returns and community recognition beyond traditional advertising. In Latin America, Betsson has taken on the official sponsorship and naming rights for the Peruvian women's volleyball league. Due to the high community interest in volleyball in Peru and relatively low competition from traditional large gambling brands, Betsson is able to achieve maximum local influence at a relatively low cost. Additionally, they have become the main sponsor of the basketball championship league (BCL)'s semifinals, which is an important exposure point in European basketball events. These initiatives indicate that Betsson's sponsorship strategy focuses on precise regional penetration rather than pursuing broad advertising coverage. 3. Paddy Power: High exposure, charity, and niche sports. Paddy Power continues its signature high-impact, high-profile sponsorship style and deeply integrates corporate social responsibility (CSR) into its activities, effectively using sponsorship as a tool for public relations and brand personalization. They are the three-year title sponsor of the PDC World Darts Championship and launched the “Bigger 180” charity initiative, pledging to donate to Prostate Cancer UK every time a 180 score is achieved, which not only enhances the brand's positive image among sports fans but also gives the commercial act of sponsorship a social purpose, cleverly balancing the image risks of the gambling industry. Additionally, they actively participate in niche markets, sponsoring the UK's first Kabaddi World Cup in 2025, which is a typical “unconventional” marketing strategy aimed at gaining extra media attention and discussion through non-mainstream sports. As the official sports betting partner for the NFL's UK/Ireland season, they leverage the growth potential of American football in Europe by integrating the brand into real fan experiences through activation activities like fan zones. Overall, Paddy Power's strategy is to utilize the strong resources of its parent company Flutter for entertaining and topical sponsorships to maintain the brand's freshness and relevance. 4. Cherry Casino / ComeOn Group: Parent company strategy and restraint. In contrast, Cherry Casino's direct sports sponsorship activities in 2025 are relatively limited, choosing to concentrate resources on its core casino business. However, its parent company Cherry AB's ComeOn Group has carried out targeted sponsorships in Europe, such as partnering with several Danish football clubs (like AC Horsens), emphasizing the idea of “ComeOn! Together” and focusing on fostering local connections and community engagement. At the same time, they are extending their brand indirectly by sponsoring the well-known esports organization Astralis. The cost-effectiveness of esports sponsorship often surpasses that of traditional sports, and the target audience is younger and more digital, providing an efficient customer acquisition channel for its parent company during the strategic transformation period. This layered sponsorship strategy at the group level reflects the brand's relative restraint and precise targeting of specific high-potential communities in the face of changing regulatory environments and exploration of potential subsidiary sales. BCGame's integrated Web3 sponsorship model. BC.GAME does not replicate the sponsorship routes of traditional brands but establishes a more flexible and cross-regional sponsorship framework based on cryptocurrency and Web3 technology, targeting emerging markets and high-growth communities. BCGame's sponsorship landscape in 2025 is highly diverse. In Europe, they have renewed their contract with Leicester City Football Club as the official main sponsor for the 2025/26 season…