Six Premier League clubs found to be breaking new gambling sponsorship rules

Six Premier League clubs are reportedly in hot water for flouting regulations designed to protect fans from the harms of gambling.

In a landmark decision in July, the Premier League along with the EFL, FA, and Women's Super League agreed to implement more strict rules regarding gambling sponsorship in football, culminating in a complete ban on front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships from summer 2026. Despite the upcoming ban, many clubs continue to benefit financially in the meantime.

This season, 11 of the 20 top-flight teams, including Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, West Ham, and Wolves sport gambling firms' logos in prime real estate on their shirts. Several of these sponsors are largely unknown entities primarily targeting the Asian market.

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Although permitted under current guidelines, clubs were expected to introduce measures to protect children and others at risk due to gambling problems. Notably, replica children's kits can't feature gambling sponsors, and clubs must ensure that adult shirts without such branding are available for purchase.

The rules read: "Ensuring that mechanisms exist to enable supporters to have the ability to purchase adult replica kits that do not include gambling sponsorship logos, in the event that they are not otherwise available for purchase."

After being contacted by the Pitch Inspection, it has emerged that six clubs – Aston Villa (Betano), Brentford (Hollywood Bets), Everton (Stake.com), Fulham (SBOTOP), Nottingham Forest (Kaiyun) and Southampton (Rollbit) – do not offer replica adult shirts free from gambling sponsors. In response to this discovery, The Big Step, a group campaigning against gambling sponsorship in football, commented: "This is yet more evidence that football can't be trusted on gambling – it's time for the government to end this nonsense."

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Additionally, there has been criticism over clubs' attempts to downplay the true nature of their sponsors' industries. Despite being a betting company, Nottingham Forest's sponsor Kaiyun was not identified as such in the August 2023 club press release.

Kaiyun champions its brand in the Chinese market, where betting is prohibited, through a 'white label' arrangement with UK-based TGP Europe Limited to target a vast audience in Chinese Mandarin. In a seemingly preemptive move to avoid disenchantment from fans, Southampton introduced Rollbit – an acknowledged "crypto and NFT casino" – as an "innovator in the world of online gaming" in their summer announcement.

It's understood that betting firms pay close to twice as much as other companies for the privilege of sponsoring Premier League teams. In July, the Premier League announced its commitment "to ensure that gambling sponsorships are delivered in a socially responsible way by being designed to limit the reach to children and those at risk of gambling related harm".

Furthermore, they highlighted their pioneering move as the first UK sports league to voluntarily agree to get rid of gambling sponsorships.

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