UK Government Steps Up Efforts to Battle Illegal Gambling Sponsors

The UKGC is continuously fighting against illegal black market gambling sites, and one of the areas that proves tricky to beat is the gambling sponsorships. But now that is set to change. Because now the UKGC will be helped by the Illegal Gambling Taskforce, a UK government run agency that will up the battle to limit these unlicensed operators.

The crux of the matter is gambling sponsorships, and these unlicensed sites are using loopholes to plug promotional material and increase their brand visibility, but they are doing it in areas that are directly exposed to UK customers. They are mostly targeting sports teams, even gaining entry into the English Premier League, which is watched by an estimated 35+ million people in the UK.

There have already been measures to try to limit the exposure and cut out these operators, but they still find ways, and legal ways at that, to promote their product. It involves white-label partnerships with companies that are licensed locally, which gives the unlicensed operators the necessary permissions to carry on. But maybe not for too much longer. This spring, the UKGC is set to open a consultation on the possible legal channels to curb, and possibly completely erase, these unregulated operators.

UK Government’s Agenda on Gambling Sponsorships

A consultation will be scheduled sometime this spring, in which the UK Gambling Commission will host talks with the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport. They have their argument, facts, and they will try to look for a way to tighten the regulatory loopholes on black market gambling ads, something that the UK is highly familiar with. It undermines the very gambling legislation that the UK authority is carrying out, and equally importantly, represents a loss of income for the UKGC, and thus the government too.

The problem is the white label arrangements, which can create a backdoor for these operators to infiltrate the UK betting market. These partnerships were originally made to give operators a low barrier to entry into the UK. It is a competitive betting market, as sports betting is extremely popular, and there are many well-established operators who already have visibility and a reputation within the market. The white label solutions are there to allow smaller operators a shoe in, or large international players a chance to invest without having to go through all the legal procedures or wait out the lengthy approval times.

However, offshore operators have exposed these arrangements as they can use them to specifically target UK customers. The blindspot in the UKGC’s legislation is now becoming increasingly louder, and the authorities have decided that their next move should be to close down on this channel.

Premier League Shirt Sponsorships

Just last year, they celebrated a big win when the Premier League decided to end front of shirt gambling sponsorships. Those Premier League shirts, with big gambling sponsors splashed across the chest, will be gone by the 2026-27 Premier League season. With it gone, it eliminates a major marketing space for gambling operators (including both UKGC licensed operators and unregulated ones). However, this is not the only valuable commercial space that these operators have targeted.

Because within football, shirt sleeves, training kit partnerships, perimeter LED boards in stadiums, and even international digital campaigns are still available. It does beg the question, though, why are the unregulated sites using UK sports teams to advertise their brands?

Simply because the international following is so colossal. Branding an Everton shirt with a gambling brand that only caters to Asian players, will give that operator a massive boost in that market, as the English Premier League is seen as one of the most prestigious and respected sports institutions in the world. Needless to say, that Asian gambling brand could also take on UK customers if the operator leaves that channel open, but they would be breaching the UKGC laws.

Going back to Premier League clubs, all of those other areas (training kits, digital ads, shirt sleeves, etc), may not have the same large exposure as having the brand displayed across the chest of a football shirt. But the impacts are still large enough to worry the UKGC.

Aims of the Taskforce

A task force was made last month, the Illegal Gambling Taskforce, that operates independently from the UKGC, and their goal is to tackle illegal gambling bodies from serving UK players. The task force’s first campaign was to bring together major companies, including Visa, Google, MasterCard and TikTok, to help beat illegal gambling. By cutting off payment methods and reducing the social media spread of these sites, they make it more difficult for the unregulated operators to work properly in the UK.

Led by Baroness Twycross, this is a government affiliated program, and not one tied to the UKGC, and there are three areas they intend to attack:

• Social media platforms being used as marketing space by illegal operators
• Blocking payment methods associated to unlicensed gambling sites
• Improve the cross-agency collaborative efforts to block illegal gambling sites
• Working separately, but to the same ends as the UKGC, the goal is to cut down the black market channelization in the UK.

Other Areas Black Market Operators Are Gaining Entry

But it is not that simple. Because there are multiple battlegrounds that they will have to fight in, and these go way beyond sports teams sponsors and gambling ads featuring top Premier League players. They are present in:

• Social media
• Affiliate websites targeting UK traffic
• Illegal Streaming sites

Just earlier this month, there was a backlash against the viral Manchester United fan who won’t cut his hair until Man Utd wins 5 games in a row. The popular influencer displayed branded baseball caps of a well known betting site that is not regulated in the UK. The United Strand gambling ad was just one example of a hugely popular area for unregulated brands to market their goods. With trending content creators – who have big followings and can promote brands on the cheap.

Another report came out this year about the correlation between illegal streaming sites and unlicensed gambling ads. These sites, which sports fans know are illegal, give live streams to top football and other sporting events. Many have ads for unlicensed gambling operators, exposing these viewers to gambling products, and ones that are not licensed, thus not considered safe.

Potential Side Effects on Sports Teams

However, if everything were to go the task force’s way, then it could pose a problem to these sports teams. These international operators tend to spend huge sums of money on the advertising space that the teams can provide, and without that financial backing, it could seriously impact mid to lower-tier clubs. Gambling firm partners and sponsors are often among the biggest spenders when it comes to financial backers. Just look at the UK horse racing industry, which relies heavily on sponsorship and media rights partnerships with gambling companies.

Any shakeup will come with consequences, and finding alternative sponsors to fill in those big voids is not easy. Nor is it quick.

The long-term impacts may not be as bad as the immediate ones. It could easily force sports teams to make more diversified sponsorship models, picking partners that are less controversial and more sustainable. Just like the other local companies that white-list these unregulated brands, the short-run cashflow may take a hit, but if they look for better potential fits for long-term sustainability, they can build partnerships that are more lasting, and more importantly, don’t cross any boundaries – legal or grey.