“Follow Leyu,” says Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta in a slick promotional video to mark a new commercial agreement between the European champions and Leyu Sports.
切尔西队长塞萨尔-阿兹皮利奎塔在纪念欧洲冠军和Leyu Sports之间的新商业协议的一个光滑的宣传视频中说："跟随Leyu"。
You would be forgiven for not having heard of the company, an obscure Asian gambling firm with little to no digital footprint outside of eye-catching sponsorship deals with Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain.
如果你没有听说过这家公司，那是一家不起眼的亚洲赌博公司，除了与切尔西和巴黎圣日耳曼签订了醒目的赞助协议之外，几乎没有任何数字足迹。
And listening to Azpilicueta’s instruction and following Leyu on the social media website LinkedIn only leads down a bizarre rabbit hole of fake profile pictures, deleted accounts and a seemingly non-existent branding agency.
而听从阿兹皮利奎塔的指示，在社交媒体网站LinkedIn上关注莱尤，只会让人陷入一个怪异的兔子洞，即假的个人资料照片、被删除的账户和一个似乎不存在的品牌机构。
It is a rabbit hole that raises serious questions for Chelsea — who help beam Leyu’s branding around Stamford Bridge, seen across the world — as well as many other European football clubs.
这是一个兔子洞，给切尔西--他们帮助将莱尤的品牌效应传到斯坦福桥周围，在全世界范围内看到--以及许多其他欧洲足球俱乐部带来了严重的问题。
At a time when the spotlight is on football’s uneasy relationship with gambling, Premier League clubs including Aston Villa, Burnley, Everton and Southampton have signed deals with similarly obscure Asian betting companies.
在人们关注足球与赌博的不稳定关系的时候，包括阿斯顿维拉、伯恩利、埃弗顿和南安普顿在内的英超俱乐部已经与同样不知名的亚洲博彩公司签署了协议。
These firms are often represented by untraceable individuals, which in some cases encourage users to expose themselves to cybersecurity risks in order to use their products. They also rely on “white label” arrangements, where a foreign gambling company strikes a deal with a third party in a jurisdiction friendly to gambling — often Malta or the Isle of Man — to provide it with a licence granting legal access to the UK market.
这些公司往往由无法追踪的个人代表，在某些情况下，他们鼓励用户为了使用他们的产品而将自己暴露在网络安全风险之下。他们还依赖 "白标 "安排，即外国赌博公司与对赌博友好的司法管辖区（通常是马耳他或马恩岛）的第三方达成协议，为其提供合法进入英国市场的许可证。
“Far too often, we have no real sense of the true ownership, source of wealth or consumer base of these so-called ‘white label’ gambling operators,” says Dr James Noyes, senior fellow of the Social Market Foundation think tank and author of a major report on gambling reform. “Yet we see them everywhere on squad shirts and the sides of pitches.”
"社会市场基金会智囊团高级研究员、一份关于赌博改革的重要报告的作者詹姆斯-诺伊斯博士说："很多时候，我们对这些所谓的'白标'赌博运营商的真正所有权、财富来源或消费者基础没有真正的认识。"然而，我们在球队的球衣和球场边上到处都能看到它们的身影。"
One senior figure at a Premier League team has told The Athletic that clubs are “between a rock and a hard place” because the deals ultimately do not break UK law and provide desperately-needed cash during the COVID-19 pandemic.
一位英超球队的高层人士告诉The Athletic，俱乐部正处于 "两难境地"，因为这些交易最终没有违反英国法律，并在COVID-19大流行期间提供急需的现金。
Earlier this year The Athletic revealed how Premier League clubs may be “facilitating illegal gambling” in China through these Asian sponsorship deals. The Gambling Commission has also admitted to “concern” that some white-label websites may not have effective anti-money laundering controls or carry out “sufficient due diligence” on websites to ensure there are no “links to criminal activity”.
今年早些时候，The Athletic披露了英超俱乐部如何通过这些亚洲赞助交易在中国 "促进非法赌博"。赌博委员会也承认 "担心 "一些白标网站可能没有有效的反洗钱控制，或对网站进行 "充分的尽职调查 "以确保没有 "与犯罪活动的联系"。
The Athletic’s latest investigation into football’s murky relationship with such companies shows:
The Athletic对足球与此类公司的模糊关系的最新调查显示。
- Chelsea’s bizarre interaction with a fake LinkedIn network and the photograph of a Hollywood actor
- Multiple other clubs striking deals with apparently uncontactable people who may not exist
- New details of Southampton’s controversial 2019 partnership with LD Sports
- How football club sponsors’ products potentially expose fans to cybersecurity risks.
“Technically we are not doing anything wrong,” one club insider says. “Morally… some people might argue that’s a different matter.”
"技术上我们没有做错什么，"一位俱乐部内部人士说。"在道德上......有些人可能会认为这是一个不同的问题。"
Chelsea’s partnership with Leyu was accompanied by a series of slick videos on the club’s Chinese language website, which enthusiastically welcomed the club’s new “regional partner in Asia”.
切尔西与乐悠悠的合作伴随着俱乐部中文网站上一系列华美的视频，这些视频热情地欢迎俱乐部新的 "亚洲地区合作伙伴"。
The glossy videos include club CEO Guy Lawrence, Azplicueta and other players such as Mateo Kovacic and Andreas Christensen. In one, Christensen attempts to speak a few words of Chinese, wishing “Leyu fans” a “happy mid-Autumn festival”.
这些光鲜亮丽的视频包括俱乐部首席执行官盖伊-劳伦斯、阿兹普利奎塔和其他球员，如马泰奥-科瓦契奇和安德烈亚斯-克里斯滕森。在其中一个视频中，克里斯滕森试图说几句中文，祝 "乐友 "们 "中秋节快乐"。
All Leyu adverts displayed at Stamford Bridge are, meanwhile, in Chinese — which is peculiar, because gambling firms are not allowed to operate in China.
同时，在斯坦福桥展示的所有莱优广告都是中文--这很特别，因为赌博公司不允许在中国经营。
Firms operating in other countries such as the Philippines, however, are increasingly using English football as a billboard to advertise to the Chinese market. This means it is virtually impossible to work out who is really paying or benefiting from such adverts at some of the world’s most famous clubs.
然而，在菲律宾等其他国家经营的公司，正越来越多地利用英国足球作为广告牌，向中国市场投放广告。这意味着几乎不可能弄清楚谁在为一些世界上最著名的俱乐部的此类广告买单或从中受益。
Partnerships between Premier League clubs and mysterious Asian gambling companies are nothing new, with Filipino firms operating via the Isle of Man eager to use the UK market to target consumers. But the deal between Chelsea and Leyu is especially strange.
英超俱乐部和神秘的亚洲赌博公司之间的合作并不新鲜，通过马恩岛经营的菲律宾公司渴望利用英国市场来锁定消费者。但是，切尔西和Leyu之间的交易特别奇怪。
In the summer, on LinkedIn, a user called “Anna MIC” wrote a post celebrating the partnership. She claimed it was brokered by her firm “MIC Branding & Advertising” and tagged several members of Chelsea’s commercial team in her message.
今年夏天，在LinkedIn上，一个名为 "Anna MIC "的用户写了一篇文章，庆祝这一合作关系。她声称这是由她的公司 "MIC Branding & Advertising "促成的，并在她的信息中标记了切尔西商业团队的几个成员。
Five Chelsea employees “liked” the post, indicating a direct link between Anna MIC and the club.
五名切尔西员工 "喜欢 "这个帖子，表明安娜-米奇和俱乐部之间有直接联系。
But a simple reverse image search of Anna’s profile picture leads back to a Chinese stock image library. This shows the photo has been used in multiple other places — including as a customer service representative profile called “Heidi” on a popular Chinese website selling packaging containers.
但是，对安娜的个人资料照片进行简单的反向图片搜索，就能找到一个中国的图片库。这表明这张照片在其他多个地方被使用过--包括在一个销售包装容器的流行中国网站上作为一个名为 "Heidi "的客户服务代表的简介。
“Anna” frequently interacts with the profile of somebody called “Aaron Chan”, a supposed colleague who was also tagged in the post celebrating the partnership between Chelsea and Leyu. But Chan’s profile picture is of the Korean-American actor Daniel Henney, who has appeared in films such as X-Men Origins: Wolverine and the TV series Criminal Minds, and whose representatives have previously warned of imposters using his photo for fraudulent purposes.
"安娜 "经常与一个叫 "亚伦-陈 "的人的个人资料互动，他是一个所谓的同事，在庆祝切尔西和莱尤的合作关系的帖子中也被标记。但陈的个人资料照片是韩裔美国演员丹尼尔-亨尼（Daniel Henney），他曾出现在《X战警起源》等电影中。他曾在电影《X战警起源：金刚狼》和电视剧《犯罪心理》中出现过，他的代表以前曾警告说有冒名顶替者利用他的照片进行欺诈。
After The Athletic started investigating this topic, Chan’s profile was quickly deleted.
在The Athletic开始调查这个话题后，陈的个人资料很快被删除。
Another linked profile belonging to somebody called “Tang Eason” also deactivated their account when contacted by The Athletic.
另一个属于名为 "Tang Eason "的人的链接资料在《体育报》的联系下也停用了他们的账户。
But a further profile named in the post celebrating Chelsea’s partnership with Leyu, under the name “Anthony Shangkuan”, remains active. A reverse image search of this account’s profile picture reveals the photo is taken from an Adobe stock image library entry called “smiling Asian man using tablet computer”.
但在庆祝切尔西与莱尤合作的帖子中，还有一个名为 "Anthony Shangkuan "的个人资料仍然活跃。对这个账户的资料图片进行反向搜索后发现，该照片来自Adobe图片库中一个名为 "使用平板电脑微笑的亚洲男子 "的条目。
The stock image has also been used by an Indonesian dermatologist, a Hong Kong language school, and a Filipino bank.
这张图片还被一位印度尼西亚皮肤科医生、一所香港语言学校和一家菲律宾银行使用。
Closer inspection reveals even more irregularities about this supposed team of football brokers based in the Middle East.
仔细观察发现，这个所谓的设在中东的足球经纪人团队有更多不规范之处。
Anna MIC and Anthony Shangkuan claim to work for “MIC Branding & Advertising”, based in Dubai. But there is no company of this name in the United Arab Emirates register of businesses and the company has no discernible digital footprint whatsoever, beyond these LinkedIn profiles.
Anna MIC和Anthony Shangkuan声称为总部设在迪拜的 "MIC Branding & Advertising "工作。但是，在阿拉伯联合酋长国的企业注册中没有这个名字的公司，而且除了这些LinkedIn资料之外，该公司没有任何明显的数字足迹。
None of these accounts responded to requests for comment. As one knowledgeable insider put it to The Athletic: “There is a long history of pseudonyms and so on in grey and black market online gambling.” This helps those working in the area to evade Chinese clampdowns and avoid stringent checks on their sources of funding by gambling regulators.
这些账户都没有对评论请求作出回应。正如一位知识渊博的业内人士对The Athletic所说："在灰色和黑市在线赌博中，假名等由来已久。" 这有助于那些在该领域工作的人逃避中国的取缔行动，避免赌博监管机构对其资金来源的严格检查。
It would be unfair to single Chelsea out. The mysterious “MIC Branding” network not only claims to have worked with Chelsea but also many other top clubs in Germany, Italy and France. These companies have different names but strikingly similar branding.
把切尔西单列出来是不公平的。神秘的 "MIC品牌 "网络不仅声称与切尔西合作，还与德国、意大利和法国的许多其他顶级俱乐部合作。这些公司有不同的名字，但品牌形象却惊人地相似。
One individual at a top European club told The Athletic that they had directly engaged with the people running these accounts and had no reason to suspect anything untoward. But although real humans are clearly responsible for such posts, they are clearly not who they say they are.
一个欧洲顶级俱乐部的人告诉The Athletic，他们曾与经营这些账户的人直接打过交道，没有理由怀疑有什么不轨行为。但是，尽管真正的人类显然要对这些帖子负责，但他们显然不是他们所说的人。
“Having worked in digital agencies in China for a while, I remember some agencies trying to get their way into the business by creating fake LinkedIn profiles,” says Xavier Brochart, a Paris-based consultant who alerted The Athletic to the peculiar social media activity.
"我在中国的数字机构工作过一段时间，我记得有些机构试图通过创建假的LinkedIn资料来进入业务，"驻巴黎的顾问Xavier Brochart说，他提醒The Athletic注意这些奇特的社交媒体活动。
“With a few searches to double-check the profile pictures of these people, I’ve found that most of them were taken from various sources, mostly image banks, and were fake profiles.”
"通过几次搜索，仔细检查这些人的资料图片，我发现大部分都是从各种渠道获取的，大部分是图片库，是假的资料。"
Last summer, Aston Villa agreed a deal with a company called OB Sports to sponsor their shirt sleeves. But accessing the OB Sports website in the UK sends the user to a website virtually identical to Leyu Sports.
去年夏天，阿斯顿维拉与一家名为OB体育的公司达成协议，赞助其球衣袖子。但在英国访问OB体育公司的网站时，用户会被送到一个与Leyu体育公司几乎相同的网站。
Villa’s press release to announce the deal quoted somebody called Kai Webb, who is described as “President for the International Business of OB Sports”. Attempting to find out more about Webb’s career results in familiar frustration.
维拉宣布交易的新闻稿引用了一个叫凯-韦伯的人的话，他被描述为 "OB体育的国际业务总裁"。试图找出更多关于韦伯的职业，结果是熟悉的挫折。
There appears to be no record of a “Kai Webb” associated with an “OB Sports” anywhere on the internet, or on Companies House — the UK’s registrar of companies — or elsewhere, despite extensive searching.
尽管进行了广泛的搜索，但在互联网、公司注册处（英国的公司注册处）或其他地方，似乎都没有与 "OB体育 "相关的 "凯-韦伯 "的记录。
This, of course, does not in itself prove that Webb does not exist. But further investigations reveal a pattern emerging in a number of recent partnerships with Premier League clubs.
当然，这本身并不能证明韦伯不存在。但进一步的调查显示，在最近与英超俱乐部的一些合作中出现了一个模式。
Everton announced a deal with i8.BET earlier this month, the club’s “exclusive official betting partner in Asia” which now has adverts prominently displayed on billboards at Goodison Park.
埃弗顿本月早些时候宣布了与i8.BET的交易，这是俱乐部的 "亚洲独家官方博彩合作伙伴"，现在在古迪逊公园的广告牌上醒目地展示了广告。
Everton’s announcement included a quotation from Darren Wang, CMO at i8.BET, who said he was “excited to exclusively partner with such an iconic Premier League team… a partnership that will see us working with the club on a number of exciting and innovative initiatives”.
埃弗顿的公告包括i8.BET的CMO Darren Wang的一段话，他说他 "很高兴能与这样一个标志性的英超球队独家合作......这种合作关系将看到我们与俱乐部在一些令人兴奋的创新举措上合作"。
But The Athletic could find no record of Wang, his role at i8, or the company’s supposed tagline: “Choose The Best.”
但The Athletic找不到关于王的记录，他在i8的角色，以及该公司所谓的口号。"选择最好的"。
There are many more examples. In recent seasons Burnley announced sponsorship deals with two white-label gambling firms, including LoveBet, which The Athletic revealed was “struggling” financially, forcing the club to look for a new sponsor.
还有很多例子。在最近几个赛季，伯恩利宣布与两家白标赌博公司达成赞助协议，其中包括LoveBet，《竞技报》透露该公司在财务上 "挣扎"，迫使俱乐部寻找新的赞助商。
The media surrounding the announcement in 2019 included a quote from “senior director Edward Li” — another person for whom there is no online presence whatsoever. The same is true for “Angelika Tang” who heralded the club’s Laba360 deal a year earlier.
围绕2019年的公告的媒体包括 "高级总监李爱华 "的一句话--另一个没有任何在线存在的人。一年前预示着俱乐部的Laba360交易的 "Angelika Tang "也是如此。
Last summer, Southampton FC announced the termination of a three-year deal with a company called LD Sports after only one year. The firm described itself as a “brand new sports content, marketing and entertainment platform” and in 2019 signed a contract worth £7.5 million a year, a record-breaking deal for Southampton.
去年夏天，南安普顿俱乐部仅在一年后就宣布终止与一家名为LD Sports的公司的三年协议。该公司将自己描述为一个 "全新的体育内容、营销和娱乐平台"，并在2019年签署了一份价值750万英镑/年的合同，这对南安普顿来说是一个破纪录的交易。
LD Sports was repeatedly described as a “sports content” or “entertainment” website. It can be revealed for the first time, however, that LD Sports is a gambling company, of a similar kind to those which sponsor other Premier League clubs. For whatever reason, it decided to conceal its true business model.
LD Sports被反复描述为一个 "体育内容 "或 "娱乐 "网站。然而，它可以首次揭示，LD体育是一家赌博公司，与那些赞助其他英超俱乐部的公司类似。无论出于什么原因，它决定隐瞒其真正的商业模式。
In the press announcements surrounding the Southampton deal, the company named “Daniel Knox” as the company’s founder. Knox described himself as a Chinese-American businessman who moved to the UK as a child, eventually taking a coaching role at Millwall Football Club. (When contacted by The Athletic in 2020, Millwall said they had no record of Knox ever working at the club.)
在围绕南安普顿交易的新闻公告中，该公司将 "丹尼尔-诺克斯 "作为公司的创始人。诺克斯自称是一位华裔美国商人，小时候搬到英国，最终在米尔沃尔足球俱乐部担任教练。(2020年，当The Athletic联系时，米尔沃尔说他们没有诺克斯在该俱乐部工作过的记录)。
LD Sports also claimed that Knox travelled to the UK from China to open a sports rental shop in the city, for which no evidence exists.
LD体育公司还声称，诺克斯从中国来到英国，在该市开了一家体育用品租赁店，但没有证据。
Does Daniel Knox exist at all?
丹尼尔-诺克斯到底存在吗？
Domestic Premier League fans who attempt to access the websites or applications of their club’s sponsors may face a significant cybersecurity risk, as do any foreign nationals.
试图访问其俱乐部赞助商的网站或应用程序的国内英超球迷可能面临重大的网络安全风险，任何外国国民也是如此。
A football fan from the UK must use a Virtual Private Network (VPN) — a tool that conceals a computer’s true location — to access the Asia-facing website, and the product being marketed to fans watching football from abroad.
来自英国的足球迷必须使用虚拟专用网络（VPN）--一种隐藏计算机真实位置的工具--来访问面向亚洲的网站，以及向从国外观看足球的球迷推销的产品。
Female models are ubiquitous on Asian gambling websites, and the website of Everton sponsor i8.BET, for example, seems to cross the line into overly-sexualised imagery. Such advertising would be banned in the UK, where there are strict rules against glamourising or sexualising the betting industry.
女性模特在亚洲赌博网站上无处不在，例如，埃弗顿赞助商i8.BET的网站，似乎越过了过度性爱的界限。这样的广告在英国是被禁止的，因为英国有严格的规定，禁止对博彩业进行美化或色情化。
This example is significantly tamer than BK8, which briefly sponsored Norwich City in August only for the club to pull the deal after fans voiced their disappointment when footage of young women simulating sex acts went viral on social media. The Athletic also revealed the firm made use of hardcore pornographic influencers.
这个例子比BK8要温和得多，BK8在8月短暂赞助了诺维奇城，但当年轻女性模拟性行为的镜头在社交媒体上疯传后，该俱乐部取消了这笔交易。田径队还透露，该公司利用了铁杆的色情影响者。
BK8 has since become Huddersfield Town’s official betting partner, with the Championship club saying the firm has made “a lot of positive moves in recent months” in terms of the way in which it operates.
此后，BK8成为哈德斯菲尔德镇的官方博彩合作伙伴，这家英冠俱乐部表示，该公司在经营方式上 "近几个月来有很多积极的举措"。
Anybody trying to access Leyu’s app, for example, is shown instructions on how to bypass the conventional method of downloading an application, which is through the Apple or Android app stores.
例如，任何试图访问Leyu应用程序的人都会被告知如何绕过下载应用程序的常规方法，即通过苹果或安卓应用程序商店。
“What you’re doing there is essentially installing a certificate and trusting an unknown source,” says app developer Dominic Lipscombe. He describes this as a “big no-no”.
"你在那里做的事情基本上是安装一个证书，并相信一个未知的来源，"应用程序开发人员Dominic Lipscombe说。他把这描述为 "大忌"。
China digital marketing expert Brochart says this is common for apps targeting Chinese gamblers because official apps available on the Apple store have to abide by onerous App Store Review Guidelines.
中国数字营销专家Brochart表示，这对于针对中国赌徒的应用程序来说很常见，因为苹果商店中的官方应用程序必须遵守繁琐的《应用程序商店审查指南》。
“By asking the user to first download the certificate, and then download the app, you are avoiding the hassle of going through this review,” he says.
"通过要求用户首先下载证书，然后再下载应用程序，你就避免了经历这种审查的麻烦，"他说。
“These Chinese apps are offering a way to Chinese people to spend their money in questionable ways, far from any regulations.”
"这些中国的应用程序为中国人提供了一种以可疑的方式花钱的方式，远离任何监管。"
There is no suggestion that any of the apps promoted by the websites advertised by Premier League clubs contain viruses or malicious software, but it is concerning that some of these companies are encouraging fans to bypass official routes for downloading apps, potentially exposing their phones to spyware, tracking software or viruses.
没有迹象表明英超俱乐部所宣传的网站推广的任何应用程序含有病毒或恶意软件，但令人担忧的是，其中一些公司鼓励球迷绕过官方途径下载应用程序，有可能使他们的手机暴露在间谍软件、跟踪软件或病毒中。
None of these dubious partnerships would exist were it not for “white-label” operators — which reside surprisingly close to home.
如果不是 "白标 "运营商，这些可疑的合作关系都不会存在--这些运营商离家很近，令人惊讶。
The system enables companies to sponsor English football clubs without anybody ever knowing who runs the company or where the money comes from — raising concerns about organised crime and money laundering.
该系统使公司能够赞助英国足球俱乐部，而没有人知道谁在经营公司或钱从哪里来--这引起了人们对有组织犯罪和洗钱的关注。
The “white label” arrangement is part of what makes these Asian gambling firms distinct from the bookmakers now synonymous with elite football — some of which sponsor The Athletic’s own podcasts.
这种 "白标 "安排是使这些亚洲赌博公司有别于现在与精英足球同义的博彩公司的部分原因--其中一些公司赞助了竞技家自己的播客。
In the case of Leyu Sports and several other companies named in this article, a white label is provided by a company named TGP Europe based in Douglas, the capital of the Isle of Man. Google Maps shows a bookmakers shop called Joe Jennings at their address.
就乐游体育和本文中提到的其他几家公司而言，白标是由一家名为TGP欧洲的公司提供的，该公司位于马恩岛首府道格拉斯。谷歌地图显示他们的地址有一家名为Joe Jennings的博彩公司。
Multiple companies which have sponsored some of the most powerful football clubs in the world are supposedly “powered” by this tiny office.
多家公司赞助了世界上一些最强大的足球俱乐部，据说是由这个小小的办公室 "提供 "的。
Companies like TGP Europe take bets, pay out winners and interact with customers — despite the fact that comparatively few people use this service because the substantive business is based in Asia. It means the Asian business can stay completely concealed from curious UK football fans who might happen to look up their club’s new sponsor on Google.
像TGP欧洲公司这样的公司接受投注、支付赢家并与客户互动--尽管事实上使用这项服务的人相对较少，因为实质性业务是在亚洲。这意味着亚洲业务可以完全隐瞒好奇的英国足球迷，他们可能碰巧在谷歌上查找他们俱乐部的新赞助商。
“It is totally unacceptable that three years after this problem was raised at the highest level with both the government and the regulator, we are still seeing serious concerns about the relationship between offshore gambling operators and English football clubs,” says Noyes.
"诺伊斯说："在这个问题向政府和监管机构的最高层提出三年后，我们仍然看到对境外赌博运营商和英格兰足球俱乐部之间的关系的严重关切，这是完全不可接受的。
The Gambling Commission says before granting a white label, they carry out checks into the suitability of the company to hold a licence, including a detailed look at the company and its shareholders.
赌博委员会表示，在授予白标之前，他们会对公司是否适合持有执照进行检查，包括对公司及其股东进行详细了解。
However, this relates to the white-label operator rather than the company which is being advertised.
然而，这涉及到白标运营商，而不是被宣传的公司。
The Gambling Commission expects the white-label operators to “carry out all necessary due diligence to satisfy themselves that the proposed relationship will not in any way compromise the operator’s own compliance”.
赌博委员会希望白标运营商 "进行所有必要的尽职调查，以确定拟议的关系不会以任何方式损害运营商自身的合规性"。
“This is a regulatory failing that should have been dealt with long ago,” says Noyes.
"这是一个早就应该处理的监管失误，"诺伊斯说。
So why do clubs do this? As with so many other things in football, the most likely answer is five letters long: money.
那么，为什么俱乐部要这样做呢？就像足球界的许多其他事情一样，最可能的答案是五个字母：钱。
With wage bills and transfer fees growing ever bigger, and revenues squeezed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, everybody is desperate for cash. As a result, clubs are willing to expose themselves to more risk.
随着工资账单和转会费的不断增加，以及由于COVID-19大流行病而导致的收入减少，每个人都在急于获得现金。因此，俱乐部愿意将自己暴露在更大的风险中。
“We’re between a rock and a hard place,” says a senior figure at a Premier League club who has helped to secure white-label gambling deals, accurately pointing out that these arrangements are all perfectly legal and approved by the UK Gambling Commission.
"我们正处于两难境地，"一位曾帮助获得白标赌博交易的英超俱乐部高层人士说，他准确地指出，这些安排都是完全合法的，并得到了英国赌博委员会的批准。
“Technically we are not doing anything wrong. Morally, some people might argue that’s a different matter.
"从技术上讲，我们没有做错什么。在道德上，有些人可能认为这是一个不同的问题。
“We do our due diligence checks, and have said no to a lot of potential sponsors which didn’t pass, particularly in cryptocurrency recently.”
"我们做了尽职调查，对很多没有通过的潜在赞助商说不，特别是最近的加密货币。"
Clubs do not want to willingly walk into a PR disaster. But, for some, a few critical news stories on a topic the vast majority of supporters do not understand is more than worth millions in additional revenue.
俱乐部并不想心甘情愿地走进一场公关灾难。但是，对某些人来说，在一个绝大多数支持者都不了解的话题上，一些关键的新闻报道比数百万的额外收入更有价值。
(Top image: Getty Images; design: Sam Richardson)
(顶图: Getty Images; 设计: Sam Richardson)