55% of Premier League Clubs Count Unlicensed Operators as Partners

If anyone thought that the ban on gambling operators sponsoring the front of Premier League clubs’ shirts would see the link between betting and football broken, they have been sorely mistaken.

In fact, it could be argued that the situation has now worsened, with more than half of all EPL clubs penning a commercial agreement with a gambling firm that doesn’t hold a UK licence.

While these operators may not have their logos displayed on the front of playing shirts, they are still advertising their services via shirt sleeves, shorts, pitch-side ads and other marketing channels.

And so Premier League clubs, who are so influential to their fans, are unwittingly pushing their followers to the black market – which can have dire consequences for punters.

New Deals with Unlicensed Operators

Agreed back in 2023, the voluntary ban on front-of-shirt sponsorships kicked in at the start of the current 2026/27 season, which got underway in August.

However, Premier League clubs voted NOT to introduce a blanket veto on gambling sponsors, knowing that these would remain a lucrative source of revenue.

A handful have signed new deals for the current campaign, with 8XBet – a prominent bookmaker in Asia – agreeing terms with Chelsea, Newcastle United, Aston Villa and two other Premier League clubs.

They folded their UK business early in 2025, while Josimar Football – who specialise in investigative journalism in football – published a piece linking 8XBet to a ‘Cambodian cyber slavery operation’ and a ‘drug lord named in the International Criminal Court.’

Tottenham, Everton, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest also have commercial agreements with gambling operators that don’t hold a valid UK licence, while Sunderland announced the Curacao-licensed Shuffle as their official sleeve partner just last week.

Government Consultation Ends

While all of these new partners were putting pen to paper, the UK government was concluding its consultation into the legality of unlicensed gambling sponsorship in sport.

That came to an end in September, with ministers now sifting through the responses. The upshot is that such sponsorship deals could be made illegal, meaning that most of the deals agreed this summer would come to a premature end.

Given that the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, has showcased an anti-gambling stance in his short time in office – it’s likely that he will instruct his chancellor to hike Machine Games Duty in his November budget; a full ban on unlicensed gambling sponsors seems a certainty.

And that would be rather awkward for Burnham, whose beloved Everton are sponsored by Stake.com… a betting firm that has been unlicensed in the UK since 2025.

Entain Calls for Immediate Ban

Although unwitting they may be, Premier League clubs are exposing their fans to the gambling black market, which is already worth £17 billion a year and likely to double in size by 2030, according to some estimates.

That poses problems for the profitability of the legal sector, while punters themselves could be vulnerable to ID fraud or financial loss – remember, unlicensed firms don’t have to adhere to the same customer care standards as Gambling Commission licensed operators.

Entain, the owner of Coral and Ladbrokes, among others, is doubling down on its stance: it wants unlicensed gambling sponsorships banned altogether. Their CEO, Stella David, commented:

“Premier League clubs that have struck new deals with unlicensed gambling operators knew the risks. The government made it clear in February that it would introduce a ban and that it should do so immediately, even if that means clubs ordering new kits mid-season. Inconvenience is not an excuse for inaction.”

Reports suggest that the government WILL ban unlicensed betting sponsors; however, Premier League clubs could be given a grace period until August 2027 to conclude their current deals.