SportPesa in Kenya was owned and operated by Pevans East Africa, a company with shareholders from mostly Kenya, Bulgaria, and the United States. Sportpesa in Italy is jointly owned with RCS Media, the largest media company in Italy.
Sports Involvement
SportPesa has invested in the development of the local sports leagues and tournaments in Kenya and Tanzania. The company has signed agreements to build local and international partnerships in soccer, rugby, boxing, motorsport, athletics, golf and kabaddi. The company has sponsored various tournaments, among them the 2014 Wambia Memorial Football Tournament in Kakamega, The Francis W. Maingi memorial soccer tournament in Kitui, the Obulala Football Tournament, Koth Biro Football Tournament and the SportPesa Super 8 Premier League. With over 100 grassroots teams from Nairobi estates registered to participate, the Super 8 tournament, which is run by Extreme Sports Limited, grew into a full-fledged league in 2016 after financial support from SportPesa, with the aim of improving grass-root soccer, with a number of players going on to join top-flight Kenyan teams.
Kenya
In Soccer, the Kenyan Premier League, Kenya’s domestic top tier club competition, as well as a key sponsor of the Harambee Stars and Harambee Starlets, Kenya's national men's and women's football teams respectively. This partnership has seen the introduction of linkages with English clubs Arsenal, Southampton and Hull City, where the clubs' management, coaches and players have taken part in various training programmes and engagements. The key focus of the contract with the Football Kenya Federation is to ensure that the country develops as a footballing nation, with the stated mission of qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In February 2017 a team dubbed the SportPesa All-Stars, selected from the 16 Kenyan Premier League clubs, became the first-ever team from the country to play in England, where they lost 2–1 to a Hull City Select side at the KCOM Stadium. This partnership is further geared towards exposing Kenyan players to the international stage. The company has also entered into a deal with the Under-20 sides from the Kenyan Premier League to facilitate a tournament that is played during school terms breaks in April, August and December. At the end of each season, the best players, coaches and team managers gather for the prestigious Footballer of the Year Awards where winners selected by a joint panel of SJAK and KPL coaches are celebrated, with the Player of the Year winning KSh1,000,000. SportPesa is also the shirt sponsor of signed Kenya Sevens Rugby team, Gor Mahia and AFC Leopards, two of Kenya's most decorated clubs, as well as Nakuru All Stars, a second division team. The company's sponsorship status of teams in Kenya is suspended following the withdrawal of its operating license and payment tools by the Kenyan government. On Saturday, 28 September 2019. Sportpesa finally shuts business in Kenya. Citing heavy taxation as a 20% Withholding tax was imposed on all winning bets.
Tanzania
SportPesa currently has sponsorship deals with Simba SC and Young Africans SC, two leading clubs in the Tanzania Premier League. The two teams have signed five-year sponsorship deals. Additionally, SportPesa sponsored Singida United FC for a year following their promotion to the Tanzania Premier League.
On 13 February 2019 it was announced that SportPesa became the new title sponsor for the Racing Point F1 Team for the 2019 season. The team was officially entered as SportPesa Racing Point F1 Team. On February 17, 2020, Racing Point CEO Otmar Szafnauer announced that SportPesa was no longer the team’s title sponsor due to the company having “had some difficulties in their home market.”
Global partnerships
SportPesa currently has partnerships with three English football clubs – Hull City, Arsenal, Southampton On 16 February 2020, Everton announced that the partnership with SportPesa would end after the 2019-20 season, prematurely terminating the 5 year contract with the club.
In June 2016 SportPesa announced the first SportPesa Super Cup, an eight-team football knockout tournament featuring four teams each from Kenya and Tanzania. The first edition was held in Tanzania with Kenya's Gor Mahia FC emerged the tournament winner. The Winner of the SportPesa Super Cup played Everton FC on 13 July 2017 in the most successful football event in East Africa.
Recognition & Awards
In 2016, SportPesa won the Best African Sponsorship Award at the Discovery Sports Industry Awards. In 2017, was recognized as a Superbrand, placed 13th in the ranking of the best companies in Kenya.
