Premier League clubs will have to get rid of their front-of-shirt gambling sponsors by next summer, but there are worries they could circumvent the ban they voted for
The decision to ban front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship in the Premier League was hailed as a landmark moment – but there are concerns it may prove to be a false dawn.
Back in April 2023, Premier League clubs agreed to get rid of gambling companies on the front of their shirts by the 2026/27 season. The league hailed the decision as proof of the sport taking responsible gambling seriously, while campaigners were pleased that the potential harm of the industry was finally being recognised.
For the time-being, however, gambling sponsorship remains big business in the Premier League, with 11 clubs sporting betting brands on their shirts this season. Research by GlobalData estimated the overall value of those shirt sponsorship deals to be a combined £104million in 2024/25.
Mirror Football has reported on the shady areas of the situation, from clubs like Nottingham Forest’s former sponsor Kaiyun promoting gambling to the Chinese market via a “white label” agreement with a company in the Isle of Man, to clubs breaching rules around protecting vulnerable people from gambling.
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Campaigners are now concerned that the upcoming ban on front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship – which was only implemented as a compromise as 18 of the 20 clubs voted to stop a wholesale ban – could be circumvented. It is currently an important revenue generator for football clubs and examples from other countries have shown how clubs can get around the upcoming ban.
Research by Investigate Europe found that 296 of the 442 clubs in the top European leagues had at least one betting partner last season, with 145 of those having gambling sponsorship on the front of their shirts. The investigation showed that some sides in Belgium and Italy had simply changed from showing gambling sponsor logos on their shirts to displaying the same company’s charitable foundation or associated news website.
For example, Belgian side Club Brugge simply switched their shirt sponsor from betting company Unibet to U-Experts, which is a news app made by Unibet that contains links to betting.
Nick Harvey from the Coalition to End Gambling Ads (CEGA) told Mirror Football: “The undeniable harm caused by gambling is why the Premier League was forced to act, but if clubs were then allowed to promote near-identical brands it would make a mockery of the whole exercise.
“With tens of thousands of ads still plastered across stadiums, shirt sleeves and the media, removing shirt-front logos is already just a gesture. The only real solution is for the Government to step in and end all gambling advertising in football.”
Gambling is a ubiquitous presence in elite football currently, with TV advertising and billboards dominated by the industry. Research in 2023 found that betting logos appear up to 3,500 times during televised matches. Even if the front-of-shirt sponsorship ban has the desired effect, then the relationship between the two industries will continue.
Another potential effect is that clubs could pivot from one potentially harmful but extremely lucrative industry to another. Arsenal and Manchester City display the names of Emirates and Etihad Airways on their shirts currently and the airline industry could provide an alternative for clubs seeking a new injection of cash.
Peter Crisp from Fossil Free Football said: “The step away from gambling sponsors is an acknowledgement of something fans all understand: using sport to promote harmful brands is wrong.
“It used to be big tobacco, then it was betting, now it’s time to stop the endless advertising of fossil fuels in football too. Oil companies and airlines that profit from pollution while we pay the price should go the way of gambling and get off our shirts.”
