We owe you nothing, Gor Mahia tells BetKing
Gor Mahia have come out to strongly deny claims that they duped Nigerian gaming firm BetKing millions of shillings and went on to sign a sponsorship deal with a rival betting firm BetSafe.
Reports indicate BetKing plans to sue the reigning Kenyan Premier League champions for receiving their money and refusing to sign a deal with them.
UMBRO’S CASH
K’Ogalo last month signed a sponsorship deal worth Sh55 million with Betsafe who also entered a sponsorship deal with Gor Mahia’s bitter rivals AFC Leopards to the tune of Sh45 million.
Outgoing Organising secretary Ronald Ngala has now clarified that they only had an agreement with kit manufacturer Umbro who promised to get them a sponsorship of Sh30million from another company, whose identity he didn’t reveal.
Ngala said they only learnt that Sh7 million they received from Umbro were from BetKing they had unveiled a Sh55million deal with Betsafe last month.
“They have no grounds to take us to court. We had a deal with Umbro who paid us part of the money and promised to get us sponsor. BetKing should sort out the issue with Umbro who also didn’t reveal to us they had received the money from them. We had an agreement with Umbro and not BetKing,” Ngala told Nairobi News.
CLUB ELECTIONS
The club official also claimed that the issue is being used as a campaign tool by outsiders who want to influence elections of certain individuals in the club’s upcoming elections slated for August 8.
“This are just politics because Gor Mahia has never any money from BetKing. There was no agreement between the two entities and what we received from Umbro was used to settle players salaries,” he said.
He also revealed that the club is reworking on earlier agreement they had with Umbro so that they can use the its branded jerseys for marketing and visibility and not sponsorship.
“They offered us Sh30million which they scaled down to Sh20million due to coronavirus pandemic which affected their business. You can’t leave Sh55million for that amount and that is why we are talking to Umbro. Furthermore, they have also faulted part of the agreement by not remitting funds as it was suppose to be done,” he said.