One of the richest men in the world, HM Sampoerna, has struck one of the largest sponsorship deals connected with an online gaming business.  Mansion is a casino, sportsbook/exchange and entertainment company that has and continues to do quite well for itself in the international gambling industry.  Sampoerna, who owned the second largest cigarette manufacturing business in the Far East (before selling it to Phillip Morris for £3 Billion), has been making large strides in the gambling sector recently.

This particular sponsorship deal is with Manchester United Football Club, who could arguably be called the most popular football team in the world.  Being finalized by lawyers this weekend, the four-year contract calls for the Mansion trademark to be printed on all Manchester team jerseys at a total cost of £60 million.  What is amounting to be the largest shirt sponsorship deal in all of world football, Mansion will be paying out £15 million per year to have their name branded for millions of soccer fans....and hopefully gamblers too.

According to Mansion, the deal presents a great opportunity for the company's name and online casino/betting service to expand and become popular in the Far East.  The Asian market is undoubtedly quite large - with a great following for Manchester United, which would explain why the majority of stockholders supported the decision.  Investors seem to also support the interest that Sampoerna is showing towards the Les Ambassadeurs Casino in London's Mayfair, which he is speculated to buy for £120 million, as well as the company's £40 million deal with Fox Sports Network to shoot a high profile poker tournament put on by Mansion.

Despite a slight falling of stocks prices after the company announced that Sampoerna's twenty-four year old son would be taking over as the company president, and taking over of his own duties, prices climbed back up, and investors seemed to be showing faith in their confident, yet inexperienced, president.