Yesterday the European pro season was kicked off yesterday with Jeremy Hunt winning the GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise (results) in France. The better part of the story is that France has a law that prohibits the advertising of foreign gambling and betting houses. So the team to race wore a great jersey with a “?” on it rather then Unibet (picture). This is one reason why ASO is saying they can’t race at Paris-Nice. Now considering the Belgium Lotto team sponsored by a government lottery never has had problems it seems a little inconsistent.
This reminds me of the Coors Light team in the late 80’s and early 90’s. They might have been the strongest domestic pro team at the time. During the 1991 Tour of Texas (one of the biggest US races) when they had a stage that went through Smith County that was dry the team had to cover their jerseys, bikes, and team cars so that Coors beer would not be advertised in the county. Like Unibet yesterday it gives great one day publicity for the team, but that is not something they want to much more then once.
"The better part of the story is that France has a law that prohibits the advertising of foreign gambling and betting houses"
the relevant french law is against online gambling.
unibet are an online gambling company.
lotto are not in the online gambling industry.
it's amazing how simple it all is, once you get your facts right.
Posted by: fmk | March 03, 2007 at 07:04 PM