Premier League Teams Declare Off Betting Sponsors
Looks like no other sponsor fits football teams as betting services do. Entrepreneurs integrate software for a sportsbook in order to create a platform for fans to make bets on their favorite teams. And yield profit.
That is what Premier League teams followed. After their major sponsors from the alcoholic beverage sector could no longer advertise on sportsmen shirts, it didn’t take long for Premier League teams to find other fruitful shirt sponsors, betting providers.
Premier League Teams And Betting Sponsors
Eight out of twenty Premier League teams choose betting companies as their shirt sponsors. Here they are:
- Aston Villa, BK8;
- Bournemouth, Dafabet;
- Brentford, Hollywoodbets;
- Burnley, W88;
- Everton, Stake.com;
- Fulham, SBOTOP;
- Nottingham Forest, Kaiyun Sports;
- West Ham United, Betway.
Up to season 2026/2027, betting providers can advertise on football players’ shirts. After the Premier League’s voluntary ban comes into play, betting companies will be prohibited from placing their logos on the front of sportsmen’s shirts. This ban, however, is not applied to placing betting ads on sleeves, shorts, stadium facilities, and Internet services.
After this voluntary ban, teams are not losing much. First, providers can still advertise on players’ outfits. The only prohibited zone is the front of a shirt. Second, none of the eight betting-sponsored teams is in the Premier League’s Top 6. Besides, the largest publicly known contract is between West Ham United and Betway. It is 12.5 million euros per, or less than 7% of the overall club’s revenue.
Voluntary Ban On Betting Sponsors
Out of twenty Premier League teams, eighteen of them voted to refuse betting sponsors. Not that the government has asked them to do so. It was a preventive measure so as to avoid more strict prohibitions the government may impose.
While every sportsbook website can keep on running promotional campaigns and accepting fans’ bets, the administration of the UK is to narrow betting advertisements during sports events. This decision will cause the loss of substantial income for football teams. Nevertheless, the Premier League is one of the most famous leagues in the world, featuring first-rate teams and players. In this regard, teams can quickly find a more lucrative replacement for their current betting sponsors.
Along with that, this self-restriction does not extend to lower-league teams, since the ban on betting sponsors can induce drastic revenue losses for them.
Gambling And British Government
Problem gambling and disorders originating from it have long been a concern for the British government and the public. Moreover, recent statistics show that proactive measures need to be taken:
- 65% of adults claim betting providers should sponsor neither sports events nor teams;
- 54% of children think the same;
- 14% of Brits support a complete ban on all types of betting ads.
Following the examples of Italy and Spain, where all betting advertising was abolished, organizations like The Big Setup advocate a complete ban. Others, like Clean Up Gambling, suggest that some leverage be elaborated to protect children and other vulnerable groups.
Betting Sponsors In Europe
The British government has yet to decide how to regulate betting sponsors. But Italy and Spain have already demonstrated the outcome. After the total ban on gambling ads in 2019, Italy has seen an increase in revenue, approximately 300 million euros. In Spain, which limited betting advertising in the 2021/2022 season, the online sector grew by 18%.
Football clubs in these countries managed to overcome constraints and open new income sources. Italian teams started collaborating with crypto exchanges and publishing NFTs for fans. Almost all Serie A and B clubs now have contracts with blockchain and crypto exchange platforms.
For Spain, the ban was sharp. When the prohibition came into force in season 2021/2022, forty-one out of forty-two first- and second-tier clubs had to look for new sponsors. Spanish clubs switched to crypto platforms as well.
Other European football leagues have no restrictions on betting ads:
- The Belgian government is only discussing possible bounds;
- French clubs Troyes and Montpellier have betting companies as their title sponsors;
- Bundesliga clubs do not have betting providers as their sponsors, even though Germany has no limitations on betting ads;
- The government in the Netherlands is to introduce the ban in 2025, but the football federation resists.
Afterword: Premier League’s Self-Regulation
Looking at Italian and Spanish examples, Premier League clubs will have no problem finding other sponsors, be they crypto platforms, NFTs, or other services. Furthermore, eliminating a betting provider’s logo from the front of a shirt does not seem like a harsh stipulation, if the rest of the kit, the whole stadium and the Internet can still advertise betting. With all this entry data, it seems that the Premier League’s move is more about reverting the eyes of the government from stricter regulations, rather than genuinely fighting the problem of gambling.
