Premier League clubs have been accused of greed for signing “desperate deals for a few extra quid”, after Bournemouth took to 11 the contingent with a gambling company as their front-of-shirt sponsor for at least the coming season. A ban kicks in for the 2026-27 campaign.
Bournemouth’s move, announced on Tuesday, means more than half of England’s top-flight teams will have a betting company on the front of their shirt, up from eight last season. Chelsea are the only Premier League club yet to announce a front-of-shirt sponsor. They began last season without one after supporters lobbied against a deal with an online casino.
Top-flight clubs agreed to restrict betting sponsorships last April but with that ban two years away clubs continue to strike deals with gambling firms, including cryptocurrency casinos and Asian betting companies. Premier League clubs voluntarily restricting sponsorships from 2026-27 provoked a mixed response, with campaigns such as The Big Step, dedicated to removing the ubiquitous gambling advertising in football, wary about loopholes and brands still being permitted on shirt sleeves and advertising hoardings.
Aston Villa, Bournemouth, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, West Ham and Wolves will display a gambling company on the front of their shirts. “Premier League clubs must know that gambling harms are a serious public health issue that destroys many lives in their communities and around the world, yet continue to blindly sign these desperate deals for a few extra quid,” said a spokesperson from The Big Step.
Referencing how Spain, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands prohibit clubs from shirt-sponsorship deals with betting companies, the charity, founded in 2019, said: “The sport’s greed does not justify exposing millions of young fans to addictive and harmful products. The government must follow the lead of multiple European countries and end gambling advertising and sponsorship in football.”
Bournemouth announced a “record-breaking” two-year contract with the Asian company bj88, which replaces Dafabet, the sponsor for the past two seasons. The latest deal is understood to be worth almost double the previous one and almost double the sum offered by non-betting companies. Last week, Southampton, promoted to the Premier League last season, announced a partnership with Rollbit, a “crypto and NFT casino”, though the club made no such reference, describing it as “an innovator in the world of online gaming”.
Crystal Palace, whose shirts were sponsored by the vehicle trader cinch last season, and Wolves, previously sponsored by AstroPay, have confirmed betting partners as their shirt sponsor. Wolves and Palace announced “record” deals, the former with the Vietnamese company DeBet and the latter with the Asian operator Net88. The online gambling and crypto firm BC Game has replaced King Power as promoted Leicester’s shirt sponsor.
Luton, relegated to the Championship last season, are among 35 clubs who back The Big Step and the club’s chief executive, Gary Sweet, has outlined their hardline stance against partnering with the industry. He estimated Luton’s decision to forgo gambling sponsors in the Premier League cost them about £3m last season. Luton were the only Premier League or English Football League club not to show gambling adverts in their stadium at league games.
Tranmere, AFC Wimbledon and Forest Green are other supporters of The Big Step. Swansea City moved away from being associated with betting companies before the 2020-21 season.
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Tony Bloom, the Brighton owner, has made a fortune from sports betting but previously endorsed the ban on front-of-shirt sponsors. Brighton’s long-term sponsor is American Express. “I don’t think having gambling sponsorship on shirts is good,” he said. “But I understand the gambling companies pay best so it’s a difficult decision for clubs to turn them down.”
On Thursday, the Gambling Commission is expected to release figures pertaining to its most recent survey. Last November, the commission released data suggesting as many as 2.5% of the adult British population may be experiencing “problem gambling”, which would equate to about 1.3 million people.
The Premier League said it had become the first sports league in the UK to ban front-of-shirt sponsorship voluntarily and that it was “working with other sports on the development of a new code for responsible gambling sponsorship”.
Source: theguardian.com
