By Nick Butler

The two agreements will boost sport in the Czech Republic at all levels, it is hoped ©Czech Olympic CommitteeMarch 28 - A major sponsorship deal has been announced by the Czech Olympic Committee with online betting agency Chance, to follow a previous one unveiled earlier this month with Tipsport.


The agreement with Chance, one of the largest betting firms in the country, should consist of approximately 20 million koruna (£600,000/$1 million/€730,000) being allocated to the COC through lottery funding based on expected earnings and payment liabilities for 2014.

This follows a similar Memorandum of Understanding with Tipsport under which 100 million koruna (£3 million/$5 million/€3.7 million) is expected to be passed on. 

The agreement of both deals comes after the introduction of an amended Act, which came into force on January 1, allowing up to 25 per cent of lottery taxes to be donated to sporting uses.

It is hoped this will boost sporting participation at all levels following a European Union statistic that only 28 per cent of the Czech population regularly participate in sporting activities. 

The grants should help young aspiring athletes as well as Olympic-standard ones ©Czech Olympic CommitteeThe grants should help young aspiring athletes as well as Olympic-standard ones
©Czech Olympic Committee






At an elite level Czech Republic won eight medals at Sochi 2014, including golds for snowboard cross competitor Eva Samková and speed skater Martina Sáblíková, after taking 10 medals at London 2012, of which four were gold.

Both agreements were welcomed by COC President Jiří Kejval as a way to boost these totals and as a "means to use non-professional sport to promote healthy lifestyles for children and youth".

Confidence that the agreements will lead to improvements was also expressed by figures from each company.

"We see this as the perfect opportunity to help direct Czech sport, while at the Olympic Committee we are sure that the money will be used transparently and efficiently," said Chance director Roman Rypáček.

Tipsport chief executive Peter Knybel added "as a purely Czech bookmakers we want to promote Czech sport in the maximum possible way".

The COC are now negotiating to secure similar deals with other bookmakers.