League Championship side Ipswich Town announced a three-and-a-half-year, £2M ($2.71M) shirt sponsorship deal with Daub Alderney Ltd., a company which runs online gambling sites, according to the BBC. The deal will see first-team players' shirts "emblazoned" with "Magical Vegas" from next season. It will end the club owner's Marcus Evans Group's 10-year run as shirt sponsor. The Magical Vegas logo will replace the Marcus Evans Group logo on the club's red away shirt for the remainder of the season. The club said that supporters who purchased an adult away shirt for this season "will soon be able to have the Magical Vegas logo overprinted on the shirt free of charge." Fans have taken to social media to express their views on the deal, with one supporter asking if the club had "ever heard of brand integrity." ITFC Supporters Club Chair Steve Doe said that he was "not comfortable" with the idea of the club being sponsored by a gambling company, adding, "But if it's the right thing to do financially and [Manager] Mick McCarthy has more money to improve the squad, that's the reality of the world" (BBC, 1/11). The EAST ANGLIAN DAILY TIMES' Stuart Watson reported "Magical Vegas" will be featured on the front of all of the club's first-team shirts from next season through '20-21. Ipswich Town becomes the 14th League Championship side to have a gambling website as its main shirt sponsor (EAST ANGLIAN DAILY TIMES, 1/11).
