A study conducted by the Caytoo agency, covering 225 clubs for the year 2022, showed that approximately 1 in 11 sponsorship agreements for sports uniforms in England are associated with bookmakers.
In the context of the most significant sponsorship deals in the football scene, sports betting brands occupy a share of 15.4%, leading prominently among all economic sectors.
Alex Burmaster, head of research and analysis at Caytoo, said: “More than a third of Premier League teams still have a gambling sponsor on the front of their shirt, just one less than a year ago.”
“It goes to show that the economic realities and fierce competition in football outweigh other considerations, and clubs will need to continue to receive gambling money until it is no longer legally permissible,” added Burmaster.
Bookmakers will be banned from sponsoring Premier League clubs
Despite the imminent ban on advertising from gambling companies, which will come into force after the end of the 2025/2026 season, these participants are still in evidence in the uniforms of elite teams in the English top flight, such as Aston Villa, Burnley and Fulham.
“The ban on gambling sponsorships, which takes effect in three years, plus the growing outcry from fans over such deals had little impact last year,” concluded Burmaster.
In other sports
In other sports, such as cricket (4.9%) and rugby (0.03%), the participation of bookmakers is not as strong.
With regard to other areas, companies in the field of construction and engineering occupy a relevant space.
The English league is one of the richest in the world
The financial magnitude of the competition is impressive, as revealed by the Deloitte Football Money League 2023 report, which named 16 Premier League clubs among the world’s 30 richest in the 2021/2022 season.
In the previous year, the English league distributed an impressive amount of £ 2.5 billion (R $ 15.6 billion, at current prices) to its teams, as payment for the rights to broadcast the championship.
The Premier League reaches a global audience, with its games being broadcast by 80 broadcasters and reaching around 200 countries around the world.
