Article: Gambling Sponsors in the English Premier League
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By Jonathan Lewis | 2nd FEB 2022
Premier League football is the tournament where the most money is spent. People want their company to be on premiership football shirts. We could see as many as half of the leagues this season, with the main sponsor being a bookmaker or casino. The rest of the group is made up of car companies, airlines, banks, finance, retail, insurance, and a media company.
This article will tell you more about gambling sponsors in the English Premier League. We will show you how it works, where it all began, and how other football leagues deal with this interesting and appealing subject. Premier League gambling sponsors have always been important for teams to get money from gambling sponsors, and over the years, we have seen some outstanding deals.
When betting companies and Premier League clubs work together, sponsorship will become more common soon.
Problems Arising
By 2023, gambling companies won’t advertise on the shirts of sports clubs or any other part of their gear. Last year, the government began a major review of laws. They want to hear from people about how they think the laws should be changed until March 31.
They will learn more about shirt sponsors and gambling addiction in the next few days. After a lot of people said they didn’t like it, the government is going to ban sponsoring premier league clubs from being able to have companies as their main patrons. The expected change is thought to come into effect in 2023 after being discussed in Parliament. This should give them a chance to change their sponsorships programs.
Peter Shilton, a former England goalkeeper, worked with campaigners to hand in a petition signed by 12,000 people to 10 Downing Street, asking for an end to ads in soccer. This comes after Shilton did this. There will be a government white paper that will show how they plan to change things at the end of the year or next.
Who Sponsors Who?
At the start of 2019, 26 of the 44 Premier League teams and the Championship had dealt with casinos or sports betting companies. That’s 59% of them. Most stadiums have Premier League betting sites inside, and most also run a lottery or half-time draw every week or two. Fans love a good punt. In contrast to the “big 6,” the gambling companies sponsored don’t have an agreement with any of the big clubs in the Premier League. These clubs include Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham.
Everton (SPORT PESA, £10M/YR)
In 2017, Everton and the African gambling company SportPesa teamed up. They agreed to a five-year front of shirt sponsorship deals that was called “the biggest in the club’s history.” There is no official word on how much money the deal is worth. The Liverpool Echo says that it could be worth up to £10 million annually.
Fulham (DAFABET, £3M/YR)
Fulham’s return to the Premier League in 2018 not only brought in a lot more money from TV, but it also gave them a great chance to earn more money from sponsors. An Asian betting company called Dafabet came up with a two-year deal for Fulham’s men’s and women’s shirts. Their name will be on the front of both the men’s and women’s shirts.
The deal did not have a set price, but it is thought to be worth about £3m per season.
Newcastle United (FUN88, £10M/YR)
In the summer of 2017, the EPL club announced that they had signed a deal with Fun88, a company in Asia that makes gambling games like those exciting games that you find on new Australian online casino sites. “The biggest deal in the club’s history” was again used to describe the three-year deal, but no official value was given. The club’s previous deal with Wonga was worth £8 million annually. In English football, the Fun88 deal is one of the 10 biggest sponsorship deals in the country right now.
West Ham United
As of right now, West Ham United has an agreement with Betway. When this deal began, it was 2015. It will last for three years. For the EPL football club, this deal is worth twenty million pounds. In the world of gambling, Betway is a company that owns a lot of online casinos around the world and even online casinos Canada, bookmakers and a lot of poker sites.
They offer services to people in the UK, Malta, Italy, Denmark and Belgium. They also serve people in Ireland, just like casinos do.
Stoke City Football Club
It currently has a deal with Bet365. This company has had an agreement with clubs for a long time, and their current deal began in 2012. One million pounds was paid to Stoke by Bet365 in 2012. This company paid more than three million pounds a month to this club in 2014-15 and 2015-16. These two clubs have a lot in common because the owner of Stoke City FC also owns a lot of Bet365.
Burnley FC
At the moment, Burnley FC is sponsored by Dafabet, which is a company that makes cars. This company began sponsoring football clubs in the 2012-13 season of the Premier League when they backed Everton and West Bromwich Albion, two clubs in the league. During the seasons of 2013-14 and 2014-15, Dafabet signed deals with Aston Villa, and their logo was put on their jerseys.
In 2015 and 2016, Dafabet had dealt with three clubs: Blackburn Rovers, Burnley, and Sunderland. Burnley was one of the best Premier League betting sponsors for the 2016-17 season, so this company asked them to wear their logo on their clothing. It’s worth more than two and a half million pounds that Dafabet sponsors clubs like Burnley FC.
Crystal Palace FC
It signed a long-term deal with ManBetX, which is based in the UK. This deal is thought to be the eighth-largest sponsorship deal ever made by a company and a football team for Premier League sponsorships. When you think of ManBetX, you think of a gaming company that focuses on sports gambling and has clients from all over the world. For the last 10 years, this company has been in business. This is their first deal with one of the big clubs.
Conclusion
The English Football Association (FA) doesn’t have a good thing to say about the gambling industry. In 2017, they decided not to work with gambling sponsorship firms. In 2015, for example, they signed a lot of gambling sponsorship in sport with different gambling sponsorship firms.
Two years later, they broke off all ties with Ladbrokes, the company that had been their main sponsor. On the other hand, clubs still have the power to choose which brands they want to work with when it comes to gambling sponsorships. They don’t want to keep getting stricter because the casino sponsorships make a lot of money for the government.
However, if another party takes power soon, this could change. Tom Watson, a well-known politician, said that he had talks with a lot of English Premier League sponsors in that field and that he was sure they would stop advertising in soccer in the future. Still, he says that they had broken their promise and that the British government would have to take that situation a lot more seriously if they did that.
Jonathan Lewis is an MFF sports writer
