William Hill agrees “record-breaking” Scottish football sponsorship deal
Partnership starts at beginning of 2024-25 season and will see EPIC Global Solutions deliver gambling-related harm awareness programmes
William Hill will become the title sponsor for the top four divisions of Scottish football after penning a “record-breaking” deal with the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL).
The five-year deal starts at the beginning of the 2024-25 season and brings to an end the SPFL’s partnership with car marketplace Cinch.
Under the terms of the deal, the divisions will be renamed the William Hill Premiership, William Hill Championship, William Hill League 1 and William Hill League 2.
On top of sponsoring the four divisions, William Hill will become the official betting partner of the SPFL.
The new deal also marks a return to Scottish football for Hills, after the evoke-owned operator terminated its near-decade-long partnership with the Scottish FA in 2020.
The operator had served as the title sponsor of the Scottish FA Cup and the official betting partner of the Scottish FA since 2011 before the partnership came to an end.
Additionally, a partnership has been struck with EPIC Global Solutions which will launch a multi-year programme on gambling-related harm awareness.
The service will be available to players, staff and supporters, with interactive workshops across the 42 Scottish clubs designed to educate players and staff on the pitfalls of gambling-related harm at the top level of sport.
The search for the new SPFL title sponsor was led by Scottish Football Marketing’s Brendan Napier.
Scottish Football Marketing is a joint venture between the SPFL, the Scottish FA and the Scottish Women’s Premier League.
Neil Doncaster, SPFL CEO, said: “William Hill is a name long associated with Scottish football and we are enormously excited to have reached a long-term, record-breaking agreement with our new title sponsors.
“This is tremendous news for our clubs and their fans, for the profile of the league, and for Scottish football in general.
“Everyone at the SPFL is looking forward to working with William Hill to promote the passion, drama and excitement of the league and its 42 clubs over the next five seasons, as well as the rollout of our programme with EPIC,” he added.
Michael Sheehan, William Hill marketing director, commented on the work that will be done in raising awareness of the risks associated with gambling.
He explained: “In addition to our sponsorship, we will work proactively and extensively to raise awareness of the potential risks associated with betting across the Scottish footballing community.
“As a business, we place customer safety and responsible gambling at the heart of everything we do, and we are looking forward to delivering an extensive programme across SPFL clubs to educate and promote healthy and safe relationships with betting.”