Ministers are proposing a law change that would ban gambling firms without an operating licence from sponsoring sports teams in the UK.
Premier League clubs like Newcastle United, Bournemouth, Wolves and Fulham have been – or continue – to wear the logos of betting brands that haven’t been granted a UK licence.
Instead, they lean on white label agreements to access the domestic market; while benefitting from the huge global TV audience for Premier League games.
However, if the government has its way, that could soon be a thing of the past…
Ahead of the Game
It won’t be much longer until gambling brands are blocked from ‘buying’ the prime front-of-shirt sponsorship space from Premier League clubs.
Premier League clubs have today collectively agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of clubs’ matchday shirts, becoming the first sports league in the UK to take such a measure voluntarily in order to reduce gambling advertising
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— Premier League (@premierleague) April 13, 2023
They have decided to self-impose a ban on that as of the start of the 2026/27 season, which is scheduled to kick off in August.
However, betting operators will still have opportunities to sponsor a club and have their branding on show – shirt sleeves, back of shirt and pitch side advertising hoardings will still be up for grabs.
Licensed firms will be able to take advantage of those opportunities, but – if ministers have their way – unlicensed, black market operators will not.
According to reports, MPs are said to be ‘deeply concerned’ about the size and the scale of the illegal gambling market, with unlicensed firms raking in around £1 billion a year from UK based punters – the equivalent of around 10% of the legal sector’s market share.
The government now plans to consult on the best methods for minimising the impact of illegal operators, who in some cases have been linked to organised crime and who often don’t have the same level of financial and data protections in place as licensed firms.
Some completely ignore responsible gambling measures entirely too… even allowing individuals that have signed up to GAMSTOP to create an account with them.
The consultation on sports sponsorship, which will be opened this spring, will look into ways that ministers and key sporting figures can work together to eliminate the influence of black market brands.
“When placing a bet on the big match, fans deserve to know the sites they’re using are properly regulated, with the right protections in place,” said the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy.
“It’s not right that unlicensed gambling operators can sponsor some of our biggest football clubs, raising their profile and potentially drawing fans towards sites that don’t meet our regulatory standards.”
TGP Europe, one of the most prolific white label operators, left the UK market in 2025 after they were fined £3.3 million by the UK Gambling Commission over a failure to conduct appropriate due diligence on the betting firms they were partnering with.
That meant that all of the overseas gambling firms on their books were effectively operating on UK soil illegally. Even so, the likes of Stake.com and SBOTOP continue to sponsor Premier League clubs Everton and Fulham respectively.
Pitch Side Profits
With illegal gambling firms potentially banned from advertising at Premier League grounds, there would – in theory – be more real estate for licensed brands to take advantage of.
However, that idea could be heading for the scrapheap as the Premier League considers ‘centralising’ the sale of advertising space on its clubs’ pitch side hoardings.
These LED boards are a lucrative source of revenue for English football’s top division, so Premier League officials have begun to explore the possibility of managing the sale of ad space in-house – raking in an estimated £750 million extra per season.
Under the plans, 60% of advertising space around the pitch would be managed by the Premier League, with the number of approved sponsors increased from seven to ten.
It’s a model that has been widely adopted in American sports, with the NFL controlling all advertising revenue for their franchises – they hand out around $14 billion in revenue, around £10.3 billion, equally to their teams each season.
It’s a motion that is not without opposition amongst the Premier League’s member clubs, who are concerned that any deals penned by the EPL centrally could conflict with the commercial agreements they already have in place with other partners.
And, perhaps the key sticking point, is that the Premier League would dish out the money they make from the ad sales equally to all 20 clubs – something that the ‘big six’, not known for their love of a level playing field, are set to rebel against.
The rumour mill suggests that a handful of clubs, including Liverpool and Manchester United, are expected to give the Premier League’s bold idea the thumbs down.