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Premier League clubs are still carrying links to gambling brands without British licenses just as the UK government considers making those sponsorships a criminal offence.
The Shirt Ban Did Not End Gambling Advertising
The Premier League’s voluntary ban on gambling brands across the front of matchday shirts was supposed to reduce the industry’s most visible presence in English football. It has not removed gambling from the pitch.
Offshore brands continue to appear through sleeves, training kits, advertising boards and regional partnerships, while government policy is moving in the opposite direction. Reporting this month found ten Premier League clubs maintaining commercial links with gambling companies that do not hold British Gambling Commission licenses.
That does not automatically mean those sponsorships are currently illegal. Under existing law, an overseas gambling company without a British license can advertise through a sponsorship if its gambling services are inaccessible to consumers in Great Britain. The government says VPN use can defeat those geographic blocks and has opened the door to a much tougher rule.
Ministers Want to Close the Loophole
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport proposed banning physical advertising and sponsorship by gambling operators that do not hold a Gambling Commission license.
The consultation closed on September 9.
If the proposal becomes law in its current form, the restriction would cover shirt and equipment deals, pitch-side boards, programmes, stadium infrastructure and naming rights. The government’s preferred implementation date is August 2027, ahead of the 2027/28 football season.
The government says the aim is to protect consumers from platforms that may lack British player safeguards and fraud recourse, while also addressing financial-crime concerns connected with sport sponsorship.
Its own consultation estimated that around 40% of Premier League clubs had unlicensed gambling advertising or sponsorship arrangements during the 2025/26 season.
Current reporting puts the number at ten of the league’s 20 clubs.
Why This Matters to Players
For the average bettor, the logo question can look cosmetic. It is not. A club shirt or stadium board creates a layer of legitimacy. If a gambling brand is sitting beside a Premier League badge every weekend, a fan could reasonably assume the company has passed through the same British licensing net as familiar UK bookmakers.
That may not be the case. A UKGC-licensed operator has to follow British rules covering player funds, safer gambling procedures, complaints and marketing. A foreign operator serving other territories does not become UK-regulated simply because its logo appears inside an English stadium.
The government’s concern is that consumers can circumvent geo-blocking and reach those sites anyway, leaving them outside the protections attached to the licensed British market.
Clubs Could Face an Expensive Reshuffle
The commercial impact could be messy. Offshore gambling brands have become useful sponsors precisely because Premier League football delivers a global television audience. Clubs can sell the same advertising space into markets far beyond Britain even when the sponsor does not take British customers.
A blanket domestic ban would remove that route. The Guardian reported that half of Premier League clubs could be forced to unwind lucrative commercial arrangements if the proposed restriction proceeds.
For clubs, that means finding replacement money. For licensed bookmakers, it could mean less competition from offshore names buying Premier League visibility without carrying the same UK regulatory obligations.
For players, the change would make the message around a football sponsorship considerably cleaner: if a gambling brand is being promoted at a British match, it would also need to answer to the British regulator.
That is a much easier distinction to understand than trying to work out whether the logo on an advertising board comes with a license, a geo-block or a VPN-sized loophole.
