During matches gambling advertisement occurs at an average of 2.8 times per broadcast minute.
The 2024/2025 EPL season will see an increase to 11 teams with gambling companies as their main front of shirt sponsor.
All twenty of the EPL teams will go into the 2024 / 2025 season linked with sponsorships or partnerships with betting companies.
Everton and Nottingham Forest, display gambling logos and links to gambling websites on their official club website in proximity to areas of their website visited by children.
Record fines and charges continue to be issued by the Gambling Commission to current EPL and SPFL sponsors.
A single gambling company sponsored Euro 2024, COPA America 2024 and currently sponsors multiple football leagues and 17 club football teams around the world, including Aston Villa.
Largest gambling company sees $11.79 billion total revenue in 2023, up 25% from 2022.
EPL’s ban on shirt-front gambling sponsorship is not enough.
Spotlight of gambling sponsorship:
It took Ashley 20 mins to feed his remaining weekly wage, one twenty-pound note at a time, into the roulette machine. The pound note slot that was positioned just below the flashing lights showcasing the 500 quid jackpot, hoovering up Ashley’s hard-earned pay.
Not all was lost for Ashley, no no no, all could be recouped, as he still had his fifty-pound ACCA’s picked via his online betting app linked to his high interest credit card to fall back on. If all goes well on Saturday afternoon, he will earn back the lost wage inhaled by the roulette machines.
A last-minute equaliser at Wrexham ensuring Ashley’s Saturday ended in the red…again. This Saturday mirrored last Saturday and will be repeated next Saturday.
Ashley without realising had become a middleman, distributing his income from his employer directly to the revenue line of the multiple betting companies digitally stalking his every movement on social media and visually bombarding him during live football broadcasts.
If only Ashley paid attention to the small print disclaimer on the betting shop posters or the warning at the end of all the betting app commercials, which smartly portrays a group of mates in the pub, normally narrated by an ex-pro, winning together - Always winning in these ads.
The parent companies and operators of the betting shops and betting apps not concerned in the slightest about Ashley’s overdue gas bill which wasn’t getting paid again this weekend or his kids' school lunchboxes that would continue the trend of being half empty. Ashley’s wife, Kelly, would have to regularly find ways of making up the income deficit, ensuring the heating stayed on. Shopping at the local food bank so the kids could eat.
Ashley & Kelly are made up characters. However, there is a high chance that you know someone in their position. It could be a colleague you sit next to in the office, or the tradesperson building your extension or fixing your plumbing, it could be your cousin, your brother, your mother, your dad…it could be you!?
In my life, Ashley was my Grandad Dick and Kelly my Nan Joan. In the 60’s & 70’s (before I was born) my Grandad would collect his bricklayers pay packet in cash every Friday afternoon and beeline to the betting shop placing large bets on the horses, doing shuttle runs to the pub in-between races.
He was known to at times to place his entire weekly wage on a single horse and lose. Lose heavily. My Nan did what it took to make sure her kids ate.
60 years on from my Grandads betting losses and the gambling industry has grown exponentially and its influence over football fans has reached unprecedented levels.
Have you ever taken in how visible and frequent football betting advertisements are in your day-to-day life?
Walking from my local train station in Southwest London to my house via the local high street, I walk past three betting shops (William Hill, BETRFRED and Ladbrokes) all three with impactful adverts in their windows promoting football betting, some offering Free or Money Back bets. Tonight’s Sky Bet Championship games being advertised in the window of BETFRED, enticing you in to take a punt.
Later that night I decided to tune into the Preston North End vs Sheffield United game, it was around the 40-minute mark. Within 5-6 minutes of streaming, at least five betting companies’ advertisements or logos appeared on my TV screen. My eyes being drawn to the digital pitch side advertising hoarding boards at Deepdale.
It was relentless:
40:53 – Sky Bet painted on the pitch to the side of the goals
40: 53 - bet365 on the digital advertising boards
42:06 - 32Red on the digital advertising boards
43:34 - LeoVegas on the digital advertising boards
45:13 - SPREADEX Sports on the digital advertising boards
I often dual screen when I watch football and opened the FOTMOB app on my mobile phone to review the stats and lineups. In this instance FOTMOB had the bet365 logo plastered below the team sheets, offering bets on the game I was watching on my primary screen.
Both of my screens acting as marketing agents for the betting industry.
Gambling advertising in football is not a new concept, however the frequency and amount of airtime gambling content appears on TV, social media feeds, football related apps and podcasts is alarming.
The Premier League’s big gamble.
A recent study of 10 English Premier League (EPL) games, conducted by a collective of six universities, which focused on the in-game frequency of when gambling, crypto currency and financial trading company logos and advertisement appeared on TV, found that:
There were 20,941 relevant logos across the 10 broadcasts, of which 13,427 (64.1%) were for gambling only
There were 1,075 shirt-front gambling- associated logos
Pitch-side hoardings were the most frequent marketing location (52.3%)
Approximately 1 in 20 gambling and gambling-like logos are subject to the EPL’s ban on shirt-front gambling sponsorship
The numbers suggest that for every minute of football on the pitch the viewer is exposed to 14 gambling related logos during the full broadcast (13,427 adverts / 900 minutes of football).
A similar study from 2020 found that gambling advertisement or marketing content occurred at an average of 2.8 times per broadcast minute.
It’s no secret that the EPL is the most watched football league in the world and generates vast revenues from gambling sponsors.
Regardless of the incoming ban by the EPL on front of shirt gambling sponsorships, the 2024/2025 season will see an increase to 11 teams with gambling companies as their main front of shirt sponsor. Crystal Palace go one worse and will have 2 gambling companies present on their shirt (one on the sleeve also).
source: @classicshirts Twitter/X
All twenty of the EPL teams will go into the 2024 /2025 seasons with sponsorships or partnerships with betting companies. These partnerships are labeled on the official clubs’ websites as “Strategic Partners”, “Global Betting Partners” or the like.
*Partnership potentially ended, no official club announcement available to confirm
These betting partnerships provide betting companies access, sometimes on an exclusive basis, to promote their online products to football fans. The partnerships vary club to club, revenue exchanged for real estate on shirt sleeves, back of shirts, training kits and the highly valuable digital advertising hoardings within stadiums.
Currently there are multiple EPL teams whose official club websites are branded with the betting companies’ logos which often come with built-in hyperlinks directing visitors straight to their suite of gambling platforms, sports books or online casino games.
The official club websites of Newcastle United, Bournemouth and Leicester City for example, each decorated with three different betting company logos and live hyperlinks to betting services.
Source: Newcastle United FC website
The most disturbing branding was found on the websites of Everton and Nottingham Forest, where both teams display gambling logos and links to gambling websites in proximity to areas of their websites visited by children.
Everton’s Junior Fans section of the clubs website, which according to the Merseyside club is a Forum giving a voice to Evertonians aged 11-17, currently ( as of August 2024) includes the logo and a direct link to their Sponsors, “Stake.com” website at the bottom of multiple news articles .
Nottingham Forest (as of August 2024) display branding and links to their Sponsor Kaiyun Sports gambling products on the section of the Football clubs website dedicated to their Girls Academy, a football programme for girls in the U10-U16 age groups.
Source: Nottingham Forest FC Website
Both of the mentioned webpages are set up for children and the younger generation of fans. The gambling industry code for socially responsible advertising states:
“The advertising of adult-only gambling products or product suppliers should never be targeted at children. This applies equally to sponsorship and this code requires that gambling operators will not allow their logos or other promotional material to appear on any commercial merchandising which is designed for use by children.”
Those are just some of the many examples of EPL teams providing a direct gateway into an industry that is linked to between 116-496 suicides every year in the UK, according to extensive research from Gambling with Lives, a charity set up in 2018 by families bereaved by gambling-related suicide.
Since 2020 there has been an increase in high profile football players falling foul of their respective FA’s gambling regulations. Either receiving suspensions or being investigated for potential breach of gambling regulations. Ivan Toney (Brentford), Sandro Tonali (Newcastle United), Kieran Trippier (Newcastle United) and Lucas Paquetá (West Ham United) are players that recently fall into this category - Remarkably their respective clubs appear to have not changed their stance this season on gambling partnerships.
Brentford, despite their star striker, Ivan Toney’s recovering from a gambling addiction, will maintain the Hollywood Bets branding on their kits for the 2024/2025 season.
Italy international Sandro Tonali returns to Newcastle this season from a 10-month world-world ban for betting on matches he was involved in. During his suspension, the Magpies were busy securing betting partnerships with three companies (Sportsbet.io, Fun88, BetMGM). The joint highest amount of betting partnerships in the EPL by a single team.
West Ham United’s talisman, Lucas Paquetá , who is under investigation by the FA, accused of deliberately getting yellow cards in matches which have been linked to suspicious betting activity, will have the Betway logo on his chest on match days.
source: West Ham United FC
Betway now have partnerships with four EPL teams, West Ham, Bournemouth Manchester City and Arsenal. The Pitch Inspection reviewed the club announcements on their partnerships with Betway, which are openly available.
As part of the deal with Arsenal , Betway go on to say;
“Betway will also offer in-depth Code of Conduct and Responsible Gaming training to all players and staff at the club, which outlines regulations and provides education on gambling related harms and the tools and support that are available.”
The Pitch Inspection has contacted Arsenal and requested full details of the “Responsible Gaming training” program offered to the players and if the same training is also available to the tens of thousands of club members whose game day and online football experiences will be targeted by the Betway advertisements. We are waiting for a response.
In the same mentioned sponsorship announcement Juliet Slot, Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal, said “We are excited to work with Betway to bring more experiences for our supporters across the world and promote the importance of responsible gambling”.
Interesting choice of words by the CCO. The same Betway, who in September 2022 was fined £400,000 by the Gambling Commission for marketing on children’s webpages.
It’s not just the Premier League teams securing lucrative partnerships from the betting industry and its affiliates. The EPL, via Football DataCo, a company it jointly owns with the English Football League (EFL) and Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), recently struck a deal with Genius Sports Limited to extend their official betting data partnership out to 2029.
Th exclusive partnership will allow Genious Sports to distribute official live data to betting companies like Bet365, Betway and others to power their ever-growing list of betting products.
source: Genius Sports
The FA has rolled out rules on betting to its players, which includes a worldwide ban on betting on football for all those involved in the game at Premier League, English Football League, National League and The FA Women's Super League and The FA Women's Championship levels.
New promotional posters were also developed by the FA. to ensure players were clear on the rules surrounding betting.
Source: The FA
Yet despite the FA’s ruleset imposed on players, the gambling industry through its partnerships with football clubs continues to tighten its grip on players and fans of the professional football leagues at clubs throughout England and beyond. Making a mockery of the FA’s promotional campaign.
The Gambling industry’s footprint outside of the Premier League
Another influencing tactic of betting companies is to use ex-professionals in their marketing campaigns.
Flutter Entertainment, which is the parent company of well-known UK and Ireland (UKI) betting brands; Sky Betting & Gaming, Paddy Power and Betfair, with a global market cap of approx. £26 billion (as of August 2024) makes it the largest gambling company on the planet, based on market cap alone.
The figures from Flutter’s 2023 annual report are breathtaking:
$11.79 billion USD total revenue in 2023, up 25% from 2022.
$3.0 billion USD of total revenue was from their UKI businesses.
3.9m average monthly players in UKI.
CEO Peter Jackson total remuneration £4.5m.
The Flutter marketing material is also heavy on football content with the following high profile ex-players, pundits and presenters, endorsing their products;
Roy Keane- Sky Betting & Gaming.
Micah Richards - Sky Betting & Gaming.
Laura Woods - Sky Betting & Gaming.
Peter Crouch - Paddy Power.
Jamie Redknapp - Paddy Power.
Source: Flutter Entertainment Annual Report 2023
Betano, is another gambling juggernaut that has been busy securing new football partnerships and sponsorships. Not just at club level but also across flagship international tournaments.
Betano became the principal partner and front of shirt sponsor for Aston Villa as they return to the top tier of European club football. A deal reported to be making Aston Villa tens of millions of pounds. Over the summer break Betano was also very busy as the Official Sponsor of the UEFA Euro 2024 and the CONMEBOL Copa America 2024 tournaments.
Betano branding was also very visible in the giant fan zones created throughout Germany during Euro 2024.
Source: European Gaming.eu
It is hard to find any information on the UEFA and CONMEBOL website or socials about the sum of money exchanged for the title of Official Sponsor. The Pitch Inspection has requested further details from UEFA, but a response is yet to be received.
The Pitch Inspection dug a bit deeper into Betano and looked further into the layers of their partnerships within football and volume of club’s they sponsor. Key takeaways:
Betano sponsors 17 football clubs globally. Aston Villa being one.
In some countries like Portugal and Brazil there are multiple teams in the same league sponsored by Betano.
Betano was the Official Sponsor of Euro 2024 and Copa America 2024 and future COPA America 2028.
Betano are Title Sponsor of Brazil’s top league, Brasileiro Série A and Argentina’s top tier league and cup, renaming both to the Torneo Betano and the Copa Betano.
Betano is one of the primary brands of its Parent Company Kaizen Gaming. Another primary brand owned by Kaizen Gaming is Stoiximan.
Stoiximan are title sponsors of the Greek Super League, where they will sponsor 3 out of the top 4 placed teams from the last season, Olympiacos, Panathinaikos and PAOK F.C.
Source: Kaizen Gaming
Source: AMNA
Gambling’s grip on the Scottish game
The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is another league system heading in a similar direction as its Greek counterparts.
All four tiers of Scottish football will have William Hill as their League’s Title Sponsor.
The Old Firm Derby, the drawcard of the SPFL, watched by millions around the world, will see both teams branded by betting company logos. Celtic with Dafabet and Rangers with Unibet on the front of their match day shirts. Rangers will also have 32Red on the training tops to complete the set. At the end of season one of these teams will likely lift the league trophy decorated in William Hill ribbons.
Source William Hill
In 2023, William Hill Group were ordered to pay a record £19.2 million by the Gambling Commissions who claimed:
“failings we uncovered were so widespread and alarming serious consideration was given to licence suspension”
These failings included, but not limited to;
“Having insufficient controls in place to protect new customers, and to effectively consider high velocity spend and duration of play until the customer may have been exposed to the risk of substantial losses in a short period:
One customer was allowed to open a new account and spend £23,000 in 20 minutes without any checks.
Another customer was allowed to open an account and spend £18,000 in 24 hours without any checks.
And a third customer was allowed to open a new account and spend £32,500 over two days without any checks. (Mr Green)
Failing to apply a 24-hour delay between receiving a request for an increase in a credit limit and granting it – one customer was allowed to immediately place a £100,000 bet when his credit limit had been set at £70,000. (WHG (International) Limited)”
The list of breaches went on and on. The SPFL clearly not letting these dangerous and irresponsible actions get in the way of securing revenue.
As The Pitch Inspection dug further into the gambling industry and its links to football, the more partnerships and sponsorships we came across. And it’s not slowing down. In fact, the demand from the football industry is high.
The UEFA marketing team last year inviting “interested parties” in the “Sports Betting category” to tender for “a global rights package” for the period of 2024 - 2027, in relation to UEFA Champions League , UEFA Europa League and the UEFA Europa Conference League. With Bet365 announced as official global partner of the UEFA Champions League in August 2024.
The Pitch Inspection requested (18th August 2024) an update from UEFA on the tendering timeline as well as further details of what advertisement access interested parties are bidding for and how UEFA evaluated the tenders received.
Two days after The Pitch Inspection’s request, UEFA did release a media statement announcing that Bet365 have been selected as official global partner of the UEFA Champions Leagues .
UEFA also provided a response (21st August 2024) to some of our question, seemingly trying to normalise gambling sponsorships;
“The sports betting and gaming industry are established business sectors that provide entertainment and leisure activities for people across the world. Betting company sponsorships are commonplace in sport, including partnerships with most of the major global sports rights’ owners. A vast majority of football clubs in Europe have a betting or gaming partner as do many national associations”
However, two of our key questions remain unanswered:
Do UEFA believe promoting gambling companies as official tournament sponsors is setting a good example for the younger generation of football fans. If yes, please provide reasoning.
Are gambling companies aligned to UEFAs core values, if yes, how.
The Gambling Commissioning recently released a Market Overview . This release includes data from the largest online operators available in Britain and compares Quarter 1 (Q1) of financial year 2024 to 2025, with Q1 of 2023 to 2024.
Key findings:
Total online Gross Gambling Yield (GGY) increased 12 percent.
Real event betting increased by 16 percent year-on-year.
Online Slots GGY increased 10 percent year-on-year for this reporting period.
The number of spins increased 12 percent in the quarter to a new peak of 22.4 billion, while the number of average monthly active accounts increased 11 percent to 4.4 million.
The highest recorded overall number of bets and/or spins for a quarter since data collection began, breaking the record set in the previous quarter.
There is a trend, as the frequency of betting companies’ advertisements and intensity of their marketing campaigns increase, the number of bets placed increases with it, rewarding global betting companies with record revenue.
Record revenue = record loses for gamblers (think of Ashley at the start of this article)
Record losses for gamblers = money taken out of our households and into the salary package of betting company fat cats.
As EPL teams sign record sponsorship deals with betting companies, a 2023 research paper published by the UK Government estimated that gambling-related harms have considerable cost to society, likely to be between £1 billion to £1.7 billion.
Strong action is required, targeting just the front of shirt sponsorship is not enough to protect future generations and current gambling addicts from the clutches of betting companies.
More football clubs and their club ambassadors need to make a stand against all forms of gambling related branding and advertisement.
The EPL clubs do not need the gambling industry. The English Football League should not need the gambling industry to keep the lights on.
The money generated from EPL broadcasting rights and other non-gambling sponsorships is vast. If EPL clubs expenses are wider regulated as outlined in the Football Governance Bill and the EPL broadcasting revenues are distributed correctly and fairly through all tiers of the football leagues, it will help remove the reliance on the betting industry sponsorships and partnerships in English football.
Source: Deloitte - Annual Review of Football Finance 2024
The new Labour government also needs to make a stand. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, prior to winning the General Election met with Gambling with Lives, it’s time for our new PM to correct the wrongs of the previous government and provide some much-needed weight against the ending of betting advertisements and sponsorships that have taken over the game we love.
UEFA, Arsenal Football Club, Betano and William Hill were approached for comment.
