1960bet empowers Nigerians through sports – Okolie

Head of Media, 1960bet, Mr Clement Okolie, in this interview explains the involvement of his organization in Nigerian sports, par­ticularly, the 2014 Copa Lagos International beach soccer tournament which ends today. Excerpts!

What is 1960bet in­volvement in Copa La­gos?
1960bet is Nigeria’s pre­mier sports betting com­pany whose business cov­ers sport betting. That is why we decided to be part of beach soccer in Nigeria, especially this year’s Copa Lagos tournament. Beach Soccer is a special soc­cer event that is played on sand. You know we have sand everywhere just as we have people everywhere. Since our business thrives on people, we decided to be part of this year’s Copa Lagos to bring the company closer to the people.
What are your expecta­tions from this year’s edi­tion of Copa Lagos?
As we all know, it is a corporate social responsi­bility project on our part to help raise the standard of the game and also use it to improve our fan base. For example, our involvement with Stationer Stores FC of Lagos is a clear testimony of our intent.
What is your assess­ment of the event?
The standard of this year’s event is on point. For example, Barcelona FC of Spain taking part in this year’s tournament has added glamour and promi­nence to Copa Lagos. This year’s event is well spiced with fashion and entertai­ment, with lots of fans around to add colour to the event. Simply put, every­thing about Copa Lagos 2014 has been fantastic and colourful.
What is the profile of 1960bet in sports spon­sorship?
As a leading sports bet­ting company in Nigeria, we are very active and visi­ble on things concerning the promotion of sports gen­erally. It will interest you to know that the business of sports betting revolves round sports. We breathe, walk and talk sports. We have come a long way in sports sponsorship. For about three years running, we have been sponsor­ing an 1960BET Gold cup competition annually, which basically covers all communities in Lagos State. But as from next year, we are going to ex­tend it to the national level, covering all the states in the country. We are also involved the sponsorship of Ajegunle Mock Nations Cup. Like I said earlier, we are actively involved as the headline sponsors of Stationery Stores FC of Lagos. We are also donat­ing a Kia Car to the League Blogger Awards taking place on Monday (tomor­row).
What are your plans for beach soccer in Nige­ria?
Presently we are partner­ing with Kinetic Sport to create a National League. All we need to do right now is to create state competi­tions or club competitions to serve as assessment grounds for discovering and grooming players for Sand Eagles.
What role do you ex­pect government to play towards developing the game?
We don’t necessarily need money from govern­ment to grow the game. All we expect from the government for it to create a conducive environment that would encourage the growth of the game and at­tract the partnership of cor­porate organizations.