Q&A: Tim Heath on backing the bitcoin community and allaying white-label worries

Sportsbet.io last week deepened its partnership with Premier League side Watford after revealing the bitcoin logo as the club’s new sleeve sponsor.

The deal was engineered by Coingaming Group CEO Tim Heath, who persuaded the club to go for the initiative after initially rejecting the idea of a sleeve sponsorship.

Sportsbet.io will underwrite the cost of the deal for the 2019-20 season, in the belief that enthusiasts from the bitcoin community will help crowdfund the project.

Below, Heath tells EGR Intel how bitcoin can reach a mainstream audience and lists some of the incentives on offer to potential contributors.

EGR Intel: How did the opportunity arise to sponsor the Watford shirt sleeve?

Tim Heath (TH): We had done the shirt deal with Watford and they were over here doing a session about how to push the brand out and grow the name. We went out for dinner and their commercial director Paul O’Brien said he had some room on the shirt sleeve and asked if I had another business we’d like to put on there. I said no thank you, we’ve spent enough on the main shirt sponsor so it might be best to find someone else.

EGR Intel: What changed? 

TH: The next morning, I was in the shower and I had an idea. I rang Paul and said why don’t we put the bitcoin logo on the sleeve, crowd-source it and get the whole bitcoin community behind owning a bit of the logo. It is almost a non-commercial deal which costs a million quid. People who love bitcoin and want to be a part of the community can take part in this initiative to take bitcoin to the masses. We are underwriting it and we hope the community gets behind it, supports it and donates towards it.

EGR Intel: What will donors get in return? 

TH: We’ve got a box called the Bitcoin Box where some of the big bitcoin holders can invite their friends over for a game and Watford can auction it off for the big six clashes this season. The really fun one we are going to do at the end of the year is the Crypto Cup. People can pledge towards the cause and then have their own team play at Vicarage Road at the end of the season. Then we will have a bitcoin meet-up and invite Andreas Antonopoulos along to come and talk about bitcoin. We want to help build awareness, understanding and adoption.

We are pleased to announce the @Bitcoin logo (₿) will appear on our shirt sleeve this season, as part of an educational drive led by the sports betting brand @Sportsbetio.

Find out more about the landmark deal ⤵️

— Watford Football Club (@WatfordFC) September 12, 2019

EGR Intel: Is there an appetite for this from the bitcoin community? 

TH: It has absolutely blown up today on Twitter. One user described it as historic for crypto awareness.

EGR Intel: Are you pleased about how receptive Watford have been? 

TH: It has been unbelievably enjoyable. Watford have been willing to give our crazy ideas a shot and I think that together we can find a whole new demographic of people to support us and them. We want to be innovative together and this could work really well. Nobody in bitcoin has really done this before and Watford have been very flexible and agile in their approach. I did ask if we could pay them in bitcoin for this deal but apparently their CFO might not like that!

EGR Intel: Has the shirt sponsorship been worth it so far? 

TH: It has been unbelievable. Even when they sacked the coach (Javi Gracia) last week, there was a picture of a Watford player wearing the Sportsbet.io jersey in The Guardian. People come to us and say they are happy to play with us because we are a big bookmaker now. We have earned that trust and reputation and the traffic has been fantastic. People know we are trustworthy because we are using a global currency on a global scale. I’m really pleased with it.

Gerard Deulofeu modelling the sponsor

EGR Intel: How is the UK white label site doing?

TH: I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the action on there. Obviously we don’t have bitcoin on there and I’d love to do that, but we have to approach things one by one. We cannot offer all of these experiences because we are using white-label software but working with TGP has been fantastic and we are happy to abide by the regulations in the UK. The site is really good.

EGR Intel: Are you concerned by the UKGC’s recent enforcement action over white-labels? 

TH: The responsibility lies on our shoulders. If you run a sensible good business then you are going to be fine.