Online bookie now sponsoring Real Madrid Monday, June 11 2007
Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG, the Austrian online bookmaker, signed an agreement to become the main sponsor of Spanish soccer club Real Madrid.

The official presentation will take place at the club's Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on June 11, Real Madrid said today on its Web site. The club didn't disclose any details. Real Madrid will get 15 million euros a year under the accord, according to a May 31 report in Marca, a Madrid-based sports newspaper.

Bwin said in November it would cut marketing spending by half this year because of legal restrictions in some European countries and after U.S. President George W. Bush in October signed a law aimed at shutting down Internet gambling.

Karin Klein, a spokeswoman for the Vienna-based company, wasn't immediately available for comment.

Real Madrid, the world's biggest soccer club by revenue, will collect its first trophy in four seasons if the team wins its remaining two league games, ending its worst stint in 53 years. Its players include Brazil's Robinho and the Netherlands' Ruud van Nistelrooy. England's David Beckham is leaving to join Los Angeles Galaxy after this season.

In December, Real Madrid vice president Jose Ignacio Rivero told the annual meeting of members that the club was chasing unpaid bills from its jersey sponsor, BenQ Corp.'s German mobile- phone unit, which filed for creditor protection earlier in 2006. (source Bloomberg News)