Everton to Part Ways With Sportpesa At The End of the 2019/2020 Season

English football club, Everton has announced that it will part ways with gaming company Sportpesa at the end of the 2019-2020 season.

Everton has been in partnership with Sportpesa since 2017 and the club made it public that they want to focus on new and better deals currently at their disposal.

“Everton Football Club will end its partnership agreement with SportPesa at the end of the current season,” read a statement on the club’s website.

“The agreement has been reached following a comprehensive review by the club of its commercial strategy in line with its vision and future growth plans,” Everton FC added.

The English club announced that Sportpesa has agreed with the contract termination stating that though it was a difficult decision to make, it is one that will allow the club to best deliver on its commercial plan and grasp the new opportunities now open to it.

“Our partnership has seen our first team visit Africa on two occasions, as well as former players and club staff, take part in numerous activations in the region. This has allowed us to grow our own footprint in Africa and further strengthen our brand.”

Everton’s announcement to terminate the contract with Sportpesa is a huge blow to the betting firm owing to the challenges it has faced over the past year.

Sportpesa’s woes started when the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) revoked its operations license on the basis of unconformity with tax payments. Sportpesa and 19 other firms had to bear with the tax rules put in place by the taxman.

Sportpesa then had to stop its operations in Kenya stating that the country has an unfavorable business environment due to its tax system.

Following its exit from the Kenyan market, hundreds of people were left jobless whereas the sporting sector was left staggering. Some teams which depended solely on the Sportpesa’s sponsorship were forced to bear their expenses with some even getting relegated to lower divisions.