Premier League Teams Lead the Way with Gambling Sponsorship

In the 2002/03 premier League season, Fulham became the first club in the Premier League, to feature a gambling company on the front of their shirt.  In 2006, the Gambling Act made gambling advertising legal on television, meaning both UK and offshore gambling companies could advertise during football matches and other sporting events in the UK.

Fast forward to the 2016/17 Premier League season and gambling companies make up for 50% of all shirt sponsorship in the Premier League, an incredible figure.  Go back to the 2013/14 season and this was only at 15%, with three shirts featuring the name of a gambling company.  During the 2016/17 Premier League season, fans watching on will see ten teams with the name of a gambling company on their shirt.

Teams Sponsored by Gambling Companies

The Premier League is one of the largest markets for online betting in the world.  Thus, it’s little surprise to see gambling companies wanting to showcase their product and what better way to do it, than on the shirts of the teams millions of potential gamblers are watching?

Stoke City for example, have the name of Bet365 across the front of their football shirt.  The famous online betting company, have extended their sponsorship of the shirt from the 2016/17 Premier League season, for a further 3 years.  Not only that, Bet365 have also taken over sponsorship of Stoke City’s stadium, which is now known as the Bet365 Stadium.

It’s not only the Premier League where betting companies are taking an active role in sponsorship of teams.  Bet at Home are the main sponsors of Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga and sponsor Schalke 04.  888sport sponsor several teams in the English Championship and betting companies such as Nordicbet and Unibet are involved in sponsoring other sports, such as the Swedish Hockey League and professional darts tournaments.

Good News for Gamblers

The great thing about betting websites such as Nordicbet, 888sport, Unibet and Bet at Home becoming involved in professional sport is two-fold.  It gives the gambling companies the opportunity to attract new customers but it also acts as a reassurance, to those already using the betting websites, they are doing well and most importantly, can be trusted.

It will be interesting to see, over the course of the next few years, how many teams and competitions will be sponsored by gambling companies, as the industry continues to grow.