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Arsenal buck the trend with gambling sponsorship deals on the rise

By mac14 on February 8, 2019

The Premier League now has a number of gambling sponsors on football kits with big names such as Betway and W88 sponsoring some of the top English teams. In fact, 9 out of 20 teams in the Premier League are sponsored by gambling companies this season and in the Championship, 17 out of 24 are sponsored by gambling companies.

Here’s a complete list of the teams and their gambling sponsors:

Premier League Teams

Bournemouth – Mansion 88
Burnley – LaBa 360
Crystal Palace – ManBetX
Everton – SportPesa
Fulham – Dafabet
Huddersfield – OPE
Newcastle United – Fun88
West Ham – Betway
Wolves – W88

Arsenal are one of the remaining Premier League teams that doesn’t have a gambling shirt sponsor as we continue our long deal with the Emirates. The only link with a gambling operator we have is the sponsorship deal with the US cryptocurrency CashBet, which will see Arsenal promote the firm’s initial coin offering (ICO).

Apart from Premier League teams there are even more clubs in the Championship that have gambling sponsors:

Championship Teams

Aston Villa – 32Red
Blackburn – 10Bet
Birmingham City – 888sport
Brentford – LeoVegas
Bristol City – Dunder
Bolton – Betfred
Derby County – 32Red
Ipswich – Magical Vegas
Hull City – SportPesa
Leeds United – 32Red
Middlesbrough – 32Red
Norwich – LeoVegas
Nottingham Forest – BetBright
Preston – 32Red
QPR – Royal Panda
Stoke City – bet365
Swansea – BETUK.com

While a lot of these sponsorship’s are directly connected with football betting many also include advertising of casino products like slot games or live casino games. This is not a surprise at all and according to bestuklivecasinos.co.uk – an authority site in the live casino industry – live casinos online are very popular these days and that will be partly down to their promotion in top level football.

That’s a staggering number of teams that are sponsored by major gambling companies. While there are still many teams that don’t have gambling sponsors, such as Manchester United’s Chevrolet and Fly Emirates sponsoring Arsenal, it’s hard not to notice the increasing number of gambling-related sponsorship’s that are making their way into English football.

Jim Orford from Gambling Watch UK notes that the increase in gambling sponsorship is “worrying” especially with Sky Bet sponsoring all three of the EFL leagues. He also adds that “There is evidence that gambling is becoming ever more normalised, particularly among young people, so that increasingly betting is seen as part and parcel of following and supporting one’s favourite sport or team.”

Although many professional players are sponsored by betting brands, they cannot actually bet on football matches anywhere and they are not allowed to personally endorse a betting brand. In 2018, a gambling controversy caused the Football Association to end its partnership with Ladbrokes due to the mixed messages it was sending to players about betting. However, individual clubs and leagues can govern their own relationships with the gambling companies, hence why we still see so many football clubs being sponsored by them.

Gambling clearly has a negative reputation and the increasing number of football shirt gambling sponsors has raised some concerns and questions regarding ethical sponsorship practices in English football. Thankfully, many of these gambling companies are taking steps to ensure that they promote better gambling practices from their consumers. The EFL has also launched a responsible gambling campaign to raise awareness about gambling addictions and the effects they can have on individuals and their loved ones.