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The Premier League, the most followed football league in the world, is a source of pride for billions of people who tune in every weekend to watch the so-called best teams in England play one another from August to May. It’s a lucrative business to be in. The advertising space on a player’s shirt is now incredibly sought after, and it’s not just UK betting sites who vie for these privileges, but sites from all around the world as the league is broadcast in every corner of the globe.
Confirmed Gambling Sponsors for the 2024/25 Season
Ahead of the 2024/25 season, several betting sponsors have already been confirmed with teams.
- Betano from Greece are set to sponsor Aston Villa.
- HollywoodBets from South Africa are set to sponsor Brentford.
- NET88 are the new Vietnamese sponsor for Crystal Palace.
- Stake.com, the Curaçaoan betting firm, will remain on the Everton shirt.
- The mysterious SBOTOP from the Philippines will sponsor the Fulham jersey.
- Leicester City have a new sponsor from Curaçao, BC. Game, which specialises in Crypto casino games.
- Kaiyun Sports’s location is difficult to pinpoint, but it is based in China. They’re moving closer to the East Midlands, as they will be Nottingham Forest’s primary shirt sponsor.
- Rollbit is the name on the Southampton uniform, another crypto casino from Curaçao.
- Betway will continue its partnership with West Ham, with its operations based in Malta.
- Wolverhampton Wanderers have a new sponsor, DEBET, a Vietnamese betting company.
In addition, Bournemouth and Chelsea still need to confirm their primary shirt sponsors for the season. Both could end up carrying gambling company branding, but this suggests it’s unlikely that it will be a UK betting site.
Why are there so many from Asia?
Looking back at the list, you’ll probably realize that quite a few are from Asia. These aren’t the only ones; companies like W88, Dafabet, and Sportsbet.io have all come and gone in the past. UK-based football fans will Google them only to find a similar-looking webpage: UK site coming soon. Interesting use of the word ‘soon’. The reality is that UK betting sites have to jump through multiple hoops simply to operate legally, and it’s not worth the trouble.
Nearly all of these companies never intend to trade in the UK and have a White Label agreement, meaning another company registers all the details in the UK. However, the original firm is allowed to market itself. So why is this needed for Asian markets?
Well, in large parts of Asia, gambling is illegal. China has a massive population and a surging economy, but the government has outlawed gambling. Therefore, it is impossible to run any mass media advertising campaign. However, Chinese people like football… so why not become the lead sponsor of a Premier League football club when billions of Chinese people can see the website name? Even if it’s illegal, the Chinese government haven’t made much progress in shutting them down.
Are these Companies Interested in the UK market?
Well, some of these betting companies are using the shirt literally as advertisement space. It’s pretty sad to think that communities of people in Leicestershire will be wearing a shirt from a far-flung company with very little interest in their club and might not even exist soon. Yet, for the fans, they’ll keep the shirt forever. Like the rest of the world, like it or not, football is changing.
Some of the European and more prominent brands like Betway and Betano at least operate in the UK, meaning that fans can have some tangible connection with the sponsor on their clubs’ shirts. However, the same can be said for other industries. Chevrolet sponsored Manchester United as the primary shirt brand between 2014 and 2021; however, just one year into the deal, they stopped trading in the UK, meaning that ardent Red Devils fans could no longer buy a Red Chevy to show their support for both the club and brand. They kept the advertising space, though, given that football gained massive popularity during this time in their primary market, the United States.
Gambling Brands Trying to Seek Last Few Deals
While many of these deals are confirmed for the upcoming season, many won’t be allowed in the future. In August 2023, the Premier League and the government outlawed betting sponsorship deals on team shirts. However, clubs have been given until the start of the 2026/27 season to protect business arrangements and deals to find new sponsors. This doesn’t mean they won’t be able to sponsor other club elements like a stadium section, and it doesn’t apply to the lower leagues.
This change has been brought in an attempt to stop problem gambling, as the UK has seen a rise in problem gambling over the last few years. By limiting the exposure to gambling services and brands, the idea is that fewer vulnerable people will be tempted to gamble money they cannot afford to lose.
