In 2023, Premier League clubs reached a collective agreement to completely ban gambling sponsorships from shirts by the end of the 2026/27 season. This move aimed to reduce the visibility and promotion of gambling within football – a growing concern for many fans.
Despite the upcoming ban, the number of clubs featuring betting sponsors on their shirts has risen. At the start of the 2024/25 season, 11 out of 20 Premier League clubs (55%) had active sponsorship deals with gambling companies – up from eight clubs the previous year. This marks a 15% increase from the previous season, highlighting how clubs are capitalising on gambling revenues before the ban is implemented.
Some clubs have longstanding agreements that will run until just before the ban comes into force. West Ham, for example, have partnered with Betway for a decade. The deal, reportedly worth over £10 million pounds per year, is set to expire at the end of the 2025 season – timing that neatly lines up with the mandatory phase-out.
While front-of-shirt sponsorships are under scrutiny, clubs are also monetizing training kits. Tottenham Hotspur replaced delivery device, Getir, with betting firm BetMGM as their training gear sponsor for the 2024/25 season. This sponsor will generate more money for the club despite the incoming ban, even if it’s for a short time.
An estimated £60 million per year is generated through Premier League gambling sponsorships, making these deals lucrative and hard to reject – especially for smaller clubs, who generate less money from shirt sales traditionally. Comparative data from Europe’s top five leagues underlines the Premier League’s outlier status. While 55% of Premier League teams have gambling sponsors, both Serie A and La Liga have implemented near-total bans, whilst Ligue 1 and the Bundesliga have just one team with a betting sponsorship deal each.
With the 2026/27 deadline looming, the persistence (and even growth) of gambling sponsorships suggest clubs are maximizing short-term revenue before the ban comes into place, and clubs are forced to look for other deals. Whether this trend continues into the next season, is unknown and uncertain, but the data paints a clear picture: the dominance of betting sponsorships is far from over.
Statistics and information from Breaking The Lines and the BBC.
