Who: Premier League football clubs and gambling sponsors
Where: United Kingdom
When: 13 April 2023
Law stated as at: 18 April 2023
What happened:
The Premier League has announced that its clubs have agreed to withdraw gambling sponsorship from the front of their matchday shirts by the end of the 2025/26 season.
Eight Premier League clubs currently have gambling sponsors on the front of their shirts, with the deals worth a collective £60m per year. These teams will need to look elsewhere for new sponsors for the beginning of the 2026/27 season.
While the voluntary move will see gambling sponsorship withdrawn from the front of matchday shirts, it will still be permitted on shirt sleeves and elsewhere (for example, on perimeter boards).
We still await the gambling white paper – rumoured (again) to be published this month – which could include further restrictions in relation to gambling advertising and sponsorship.
Why this matters:
The voluntary ban by the Premier League clubs was widely expected. It will be interesting to see whether a premium will now be placed on shirt sleeve sponsorship and other areas in which gambling sponsorship will be permitted to continue.
