Gambling Sponsorships
The Premier League has a long association with gambling, which makes sense when you consider the fact that it is one of the most popular tournaments for gamblers all over the world. The exposure that companies get from being plastered on the front of football kits or elsewhere around stadiums has helped many brands to grow and find new audiences for their gambling sites.
The high number of
football betting sites and their popularity means that there are plenty of traditional sports bookmakers who look to sponsor football teams, but there are also a lot of casino sites out there that work with football teams to spread the word about their products.
Betway, Bet365, BetVictor and many other big gambling brands have been on the front of football kits over the years, and at the time of writing, there are eight EPL shirt sponsors in the gambling field.
Very few people know the particulars of the sponsorship deals in question. It is estimated that front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships bring around £60m to the teams that currently partner with these brands, which is a significant amount of money, though gambling sponsorship is about to change.
No more front-of-shirt gambling sponsors from 2026
The Premier League has announced that from the start of the 2026/27 season there will be no more gambling sponsors on the front of shirts. This is the most prominent place the sponsors are currently displayed when it comes to kits. This doesn’t mean that the revenue from gambling sponsors will stop, though.
The change in ruling only relates to the front of the shirts, and gambling sponsors will still be able to sponsor clubs. They are able to display gambling logos on less prominent areas of the kit, and we have seen a big spike in clubs putting sponsors on the sleeves or even on the back of their shirts in recent years. There is even a handy guide to the
sponsors that can be found on the sleeves of football kits.
There are gambling sponsors of some sort on around 25% of kits in European football. We’ve seen teams in the Bundesliga sign big-money deals with gambling sponsors in recent years, and some people think that reducing the prominence of gambling sponsors will have a damaging impact.
In truth, it is likely that there will still be some huge deals to advertise gambling companies and even forge official partnerships with EPL clubs, and even though the gambling companies won’t be able to put their logo right at the front of kits, they will still be visible.
Which other industries sponsor football?
Very few sports can boast anything close to the viewership that football has, and the EPL is widely regarded to be the best league in the world. This means that sponsors from all over the globe tend to want a piece of the action. If you look at the advertising boards at the side of EPL grounds, you will notice that some of the ads are in foreign languages, which shows just how many viewers the league has overseas.
Though the gambling industry revenue is significant, the biggest sponsorship deals in the EPL actually come from other industries.
Manchester United’s huge deal with Germany company TeamViewer is one example, while Manchester City continues their partnership with Etihad Airways.
The industries we see sponsoring football teams tend to include:
● Banking and financial services: Standard Chartered is one example of a huge sponsor from this industry.
● Mobile networks: Three is one of the biggest examples of a mobile network that has sponsored a premier league team after their partnership with Chelsea.
● Car brands: While car buying platform Cazoo is the biggest sponsor from this industry in recent years for Premier League deals, we have seen other car brands emblazoned on shirts and elsewhere in EPL stadiums. Chevrolet also had a long-running deal with Manchester United until recently.
These are just some of the examples, and there are always new sponsors looking to take advantage of football’s global appeal. For instance, in the past few years, we have also seen cryptocurrency brands striking deals with clubs.
Conclusion: The future of EPL sponsorship
There will be a transitional period when it comes to shirt sponsors, but if anything, we predict that there will be even more gambling sponsors, as well as more interesting methods to partner with clubs. We see huge LED displays around football grounds, sponsorship in the form of stadium names and even sponsors on the sleeves and back of shirts.
In 2022, it was estimated that Manchester City made over £250m in sponsorships, with the shirt sponsors being just a small part of this figure.
The overall trend in EPL sponsorship has been growth, and with record numbers of people tuning in to watch the competition, this growth is likely to continue. Clubs are finding new ways for sponsors to get involved, and this shows no sign of slowing down. With a thriving casino industry as well as the sports gambling industry in the UK, there are plenty of opportunities to collaborate.
