Entain Demands Premier League Clubs Ditch Partnerships with Black Market Gambling Operators

Something will be very different about the Premier League when the 2026/27 season gets underway in August.

None of the 20 clubs will be allowed to display the logo of a gambling brand on the front of their shirts; that’s part of a voluntary ban, green lit by members of the Premier League, in a bid to reduce the number of children and vulnerable adults that are exposed to such marketing.

However, the ban won’t extend to other areas of a club’s operations, such as their shirt sleeves, shorts, advertising hoardings and even their training kit, which will still be allowed to carry the branding of betting firms.

And that has led Entain, the company behind Coral and Ladbrokes amongst other platforms, to write an open letter to the clubs that continue to have commercial agreements in place with unlicensed operators – calling on them to ditch their black market partners for good.

Lightning Rod

The letter, undersigned by Entain’s legal counsel Simon Zinger, is addressed to the owners and decision-makers at Bournemouth, Burnley, Everton, Fulham, Sunderland and Wolves.

Burnley and Wolves will be playing in the Championship, the second tier of English football, next season after being relegated from the Premier League this term. There is no ban – voluntary or otherwise – on front-of-shirt sponsorships in that division.

But the other four clubs will all be plying their trade in the EPL in 2026/27, with Zinger – on behalf of Entain – calling upon them ‘commit to only using UK-licensed gambling sponsors next season.’

He references Bournemouth chairman Bill Foley and Everton CEO Angus Kinnear directly in the letter, whose clubs are sponsored by the unlicensed BJ88 and Stake.com respectively.

“As you will know, Stake’s heavy reliance on cryptocurrency and its history of operating in grey jurisdictions make it a lightning rod for concerns regarding money laundering and lack of player protection,” Zinger writes.

“BJ88 has been frequently associated with aggressive marketing tactics in regions where gambling is prohibited, often using unregulated payment methods like cryptocurrency to evade financial oversight.

“By accepting sponsorship from a firm that operates in the shadows of international law, Bournemouth is actively legitimising the infrastructure used by the global black market.”

Currently, there are no rules that prevent Premier League clubs from signing commercial deals with black market operators, as long as the brand in question does not actively target new customers in the UK.

Instead, they leverage the competition’s global TV reach to attract new players from their ‘home’ jurisdictions, which are typically Asia and Australia.

However, the government’s Department for Media, Culture and Sport revealed back in February that they were launching a consultation into these grey area sponsorships – the possibility of firms being banned from sponsoring Premier League clubs and other major sporting events in the UK has been mooted.

Legal Loophole

“With the Premier League failing to show sufficient leadership, I am appealing to you directly.”

Th open letter from Entain targets senior club officials directly, asking them to do the ‘right’ thing.

The UK website of BJ88 fails to load. The Asian firm lost their licence when their white label partner, TGP Europe, exited the UK market back in May 2025 – rather than pay the £3.3 million fine given to them by the Gambling Commission over serious licensing breaches.

Bournemouth have since named the insurance firm Vitality as their new front-of-shirt sponsor, although they are yet to confirm whether BJ88 will be kept on as a commercial partner in other areas.

Stake.com was effectively kicked out of the UK market in February 2024, after social media posts featuring the brand’s watermark were found to break numerous advertising rules.

Despite losing their licence, a loophole has allowed Stake.com to continue sponsoring Everton’s shirts.

SBOTOP and W88, who sponsor Fulham and Sunderland respectively, also lost their UK licence when TGP Europe was dissolved.