Sure bet! Betting companies partnered with 66% of European football clubs

IMAGO

New research has shown that two-thirds of teams across 31 leagues in Europe have at least one sponsorship deal with a betting firm. 

Investigate Europe, who have conducted the research, are a cross-border journalist group that discovered the following statistics: 

• 296 of the 442 teams have at least one betting partner in the season of 2024/25.
• 145 have gambling sponsorship on the front of their shirts.
• Clubs in Italy and Belgium work around front-of-shirt bans by displaying logos of gambling companies’ charitable foundations or news/entertainment websites.
• 14 of the 31 leagues analysed rely on a betting company as their title sponsor.
• 27 clubs across Europe’s top five leagues are partnered with Asian-facing betting companies.

In the Premier League, 11 of the 20 teams have a gambling logo on the front of their shirts for this season. That is the highest proportion among Europe’s top five leagues. 

In comparison to the 2005/06 season, just one Premier League team had a gambling company on the front of their shirt – Middlesbrough who were partnered with 888. 

Every team in the Premier League this season has a betting partner and, according to research company Global Data, clubs have received a combined £104m from betting brands to partner with them. 

This comes at a time when the Premier League is due to ban front-of-shirt sponsorships by gambling companies for the 2026/27 season. This was self-imposed by Premier League clubs themselves. 

However, other leagues in Europe who have a similar rule have allowed ways for clubs to exploit loopholes. 

For example, in Italy and the Serie A league, a similar restriction was put in for the 2018/19 season but three teams have betting-adjacent shirt sponsors for the 2024/25 season. Inter have Betsson.sport on their shirts, Parma have AmiralBet.news and Lecce have BetItalyPay. 

A member of the World Health Organisation’s expert group on gambling and gambling disorder, Charles Livingstone, commented on the research. 

“The industry spends millions on promotions because it helps them to recruit new gamblers”, Livingstone said. “And the reason is because the best customers are those who go broke.

“So they constantly have to recruit new gamblers to replace the ones who have gone through all their money and all their assets and all their relationships.”

This story comes off the back of Everton having to relinquish their partnership with Stake after the Australian betting company lost their UK licence. 

Despite the ban, the club are continuing to have the company on the front of their shirts. It remains to be seen whether the Premier League’s self-imposed ban on betting partners will stretch to go beyond more than front-of-shirt sponsorships. 

To learn more, visit our responsible gambling in sports betting page which also offers resources and advice on where to seek help if needed.