Entain Wants Illegal Betting Sponsors Removed From Premier League Clubs

The subject of Premier League clubs sponsored by gambling firms is a saga that has been drawing on for years, and now it has cropped up again. Entain, the owner of 35+ sports brands including Ladbrokes, Coral, bwin and BetMGM UK, has called for unregulated gambling firms to be banned from sponsoring UK teams. These are sites that are not actually licensed in the UK, either operating out of the black market in the UK or targeting a completely different market.

For the Premier League is so big, gambling firms in Asia, Africa and continental Europe can all use the visibility of the Premier League as a platform to build brand awareness in their local markets. But the topic is reaching a boiling point in the UK, especially 3 months after the UKGC launched an Illegal Gambling Taskforce to deal with the black market issues in the gambling sector. Front of shirt sponsorships are to be phased out from the next season, but now UK bookies are pushing for a complete ban on gambling sponsors outside the UK.

Entain’s Letter to the IFR

Entain made a statement on May 7 calling on the Independent Football Regulator, or IRF, to stop clubs accepting illegal gambling sponsorships. The IRF is currently creating a new club licensing regime for the top 5 tiers of UK men’s football, and drafted a Second Licensing Consultation which would prohibit English football clubs from accepting income that has any criminal ties. Specifically, “income connected to serious criminal conduct”.

Extrapolating this, Entain states that any time an unregulated operator accepts a sports bet from a British customer, they are in violation of section 33 of the Gambling Act 2005. Hence, they are conducting criminal activities, and English Premier League clubs should not form sponsorship deals with these operators. The Chief Executive of Entain, Stella David, said:

Premier League clubs are being sponsored by criminal gambling firms. The Independent Football Regulator can stop this tomorrow by simply acknowledging that unlicensed gambling companies targeting UK customers through English football are breaking the law – plain and simple. The regulator does not need any new powers, new legislation, or even a new rule to make this happen.”

While stopping this tomorrow is a far stretch, Entain did offer recommendations to help curb the illegal gambling ties to Premier League football. And any illegal activity taking place in the football betting industry surrounding the EPL.

Current EPL Gambling Sponsorship Regime

Right now, gambling firms are allowed to partner with Premier League and other UK football clubs, so long as they don’t breach UK advertising rules and the unregulated operators white-label through local brands or firms. The companies are then allowed to use marketing space such as:

• Kit sleeves
• Training kits
• Stadium advertising boards
• Club-related marketing campaigns

Premier League teams are not allowed to have front of shirt gambling sponsors anymore, and from the 2026-27 season onwards, these will all disappear. Front of shirt gambling sponsors reached an all-time high when there were 11 of the 20 Premier League teams donning gambling brands back in 2025. As of the 2025-26 season, there are still 11 teams with gambling brand logos on the front of their shirts.

• Aston Villa (Betano)
• Bournemouth (bj88)
• Brentford (Hollywood Bets)
• Burnley (96.com)
• Crystal Palace (Net88)
• Everton (Stake)
• Fulham (SBOTop)
• Nottingham Forest (Bally’s)
• West Ham (BoyleSports)
• Wolves (DeBet)
• Sunderland (W88)

The decision to separate this marketing space from gambling brands was one that the Premier League made of its own volition. Spectators have since calculated that it will cost Premier League clubs around £80 million, and that the marketing space will not command such a high price from insurance brands, automotive companies, tech providers, and all the other companies that may be interested. This is set to impact the clubs at the mid to lower end of the table more than the top dogs.

Entain Demands for UK Footie

Back to Entain’s letter, the global sports betting company laid out four recommendations to tackle the issue.

• Confirm in Guidance: That income made from unregulated gambling operators constitutes “serious criminal misconduct”
• Add a board attestation: Requiring directors to verify the licence status of gaming operators
• Strengthen the Football Club Corporate Governance Code: to require boards to take responsibility for reputational risks from commercial partnerships
• Publish general guidance: To create due diligence and notification obligations to all licensed clubs

Entain has also written to the Chief Executive of the Premier League, Richard Masters, urging him to create a voluntary ban on unregulated bookie sponsorships. Like the Premier League voluntarily ditched front of shirt gambling sponsors. And Entain has urged them to create this ban with immediate effect, taking place ahead of the 2026/27 season.

How it Could Potentially Affect Clubs

This plan would definitely align with the UKGC’s efforts to combat black market influence in the country, reducing exposure, brand visibility, and thus also have positive impacts on the general public. For the Premier League clubs, it could create a real financial headache. While losing the front of shirt sponsorship deals was one thing, cutting off all the unregulated brands sponsoring Premier League clubs would be to eliminate that revenue source completely.

A source that is not easily replaceable, even if UK-licensed bookies are standing in line to fill in the gap. For one thing, the sponsorship deals would not be as competitive, thus Premier League clubs wouldn’t be able to sell these sponsored spaces for as much.

The operators would simply look for alternative marketing campaigns, and given the big budget that is currently being pumped into Premier League teams, they could definitely find alternatives. Premier League clubs, on the other hand, will be forced to rethink their strategies, potentially renegotiating sponsorship deals with current non-gambling companies. It is not just smaller clubs – who can provide EPL visibility and can make a tidy fortune from offshore gambling sites.

No, because the big six also have ties to betting partnerships outside the likes of Ladbrokes, Coral, Boylesports, William Hill, and other major UK-licensed bookies.

UKGC Campaign Against the Black Market

The UK Gambling Commission has yet to respond to Entain’s public outcry against operators not licensed in the UK. But it will be secretly rubbing its hands in delight. The UK betting and iGaming industry right now looks shaky as a result of the ever tightening player safety regulations, rising tax duties and concerns that these will have a backlash. The UK’s gambling watchdog is doubling down on efforts to tackle the black market, cracking down on their advertising channels – most notably illegal live streams, and even influencer affiliates who promote unregulated betting sites.

But they will need to broaden their oversight to ensure that these operators don’t beat licensed books, like Ladbrokes and Coral, to the UK’s customer base. The movement by Entain takes some of the pressure off the UKGC and casts the spotlight back onto the licensed vs unlicensed operators tussle. Though it remains to be seen how influential they can be in such a market. Undoubtedly, the IRF has control here but if the UKGC were to pull its strings, it could pull off a far more effective compromise for licensed UK operators.