As the 2025/26 football season draws to a close, Premier League clubs are already looking to the future.
The voluntary ban on gambling brands as shirt sponsors will officially kick in as of August, leaving the clubs with betting firms on the front of their shirts facing a race against time to seek alternate investment.
Two of them, Brentford and Everton, already have – or are about to – announce new sponsors for 2026/27. But that leaves a handful still with work to do to replace their existing partners before the new campaign gets underway.
Indeed It Is
Brentford have been sponsored by South African outfit Hollywoodbets for a number of years, dating back to the season that they won promotion to the EPL back in 2020/21.
But the Bees have been forced to bring an end to that lucrative agreement due to the upcoming ban, replacing Hollywoodbets instead with job site Indeed.
The firm has been a commercial partner of Brentford’s since last summer, when they penned a training wear sponsorship deal for the 2025/26 season.
But now Indeed will step up as the main sponsor, with their branding to be shown on the new men’s kit for the upcoming campaign, as well as their women’s and academy teams.
As far as brand visibility is concerned, the deal could not come at a better time for the employment specialists, with Brentford set to record their highest-ever Premier League finish this term.
Everton, meanwhile, are set to end their controversial partnership with Stake.com.
Stake were effectively forced to leave the UK market in 2025 when their operating licence was suspended; the Australian firm was accused of placing their watermark on offensive and degrading social media content.
They left the UK in February 2025, however Everton were allowed to continue showing the Stake logo on their playing shirts for the rest of the season.
That decision was a contentious one, with the UK government now looking into the possibility of banning non-licensed gambling brands from sponsoring domestic sports teams and athletes.
Everton have taken it upon themselves to end their partnership with the crypto betting firm, replacing them with CMC Markets instead.
They are a financial services firm that is listed on the London Stock Exchange. And while the precise terms of the deal are not known, it’s thought that CMC Markets will pay around £30 million to the Toffees.
All Change
Even with Brentford and Everton penning their new agreements, more Premier League clubs still have to find new partners for the upcoming campaign.
Aston Villa, who look likely to be playing Champions League football in 2026/27, will need to find a replacement for Betano – according to media reports, the Villains are leveraging basketball legend LeBron James to help them secure a lucrative new sponsor; most likely from the United States.
Bournemouth’s deal with bj88, the mysterious betting operator with whom they signed an agreement back in 2024, will end this summer. The Cherries have moved fast to replace them, securing an agreement with insurance provider Vitality back in December. Vitality already sponsors the club’s home stadium.
Crystal Palace and Fulham will need to replace NET88 and SBOTOP respectively, with rumours suggesting that CMC Markets are also considering a move to sponsor the Cottagers alongside their new deal with Everton.
Nottingham Forest will seek a successor to Bally’s, while Sunderland’s agreement with Asian firm W88 will also come to an end – much to their chagrin, given that their current deal is the largest in the club’s history.
West Ham, who only switched from Betway to BoyleSports in the summer following the Lucas Paqueta scandal, will also need to hunt down a new sponsor – if they survive relegation from the Premier League, that is, as the EFL isn’t introducing a ban on gambling operators.
Of the teams currently in contention from the Championship, only Middlesbrough – who have a long-term deal with Unibet – would need to find an alternative partner.
The challenge facing clubs in this new era is finding brands willing to stump up the sort of money that betting firms, often based internationally, were willing to splash on the exposure that Premier League games on TV provides.
According to some estimates, the total amount lost by the voluntary ban on gambling sponsors could amount to more than £80 million during the 2025/26 season alone.
In the cases of both Bournemouth and Brentford, it’s thought that they signed cut-price agreements with their respective sponsors, who already advertised on their training kit.