English Football Clubs Sponsored by Casinos

Football and sponsorship have gone hand-in-hand for decades now with shirt sponsorship commonplace for most clubs since the 1980s.

And this type of sponsorship is incredibly big business with some clubs making millions of pounds per season off of big name front of shirt sponsorship deals. Fly Emirates pay Arsenal £40m/year for the logo on their shirts, with Standard Chartered (Liverpool) and Yokohama Tyres (Chelsea) paying similar amounts.

The Manchester clubs fare a little better with Man City raking in £45m a year from Etihad Airways and Manchester United topping the English sponsorship table with their £47m a year deal with American car manufacturer Chevrolet.

Casino and Gambling Sponsorship

One industry which has seen massive growth in recent years is the sponsorship of football clubs by casinos and betting companies. It's no secret that football fans like to bet on the outcome of games and more fans are using online casinos such as https://gamblerino.com/en/ as they look to win big at a weekend.

Interestingly it's not your big-name UK bookmakers such as SkyBet, Paddy Power, William Hill and Ladbrokes that are sponsoring English teams, instead it's mainly done by overseas companies who are either looking to get a foothold in the English market or are taking advantage of the sport's global TV audience to effectively advertise in their local markets.

Casino sponsorships in 2019

At the start of 2019, 26 out of the 44 clubs in the Premier League and Championship were sponsored by casinos or sports betting companies - that's a staggering 59%.

Of course, football has had a long relationship with the betting industry, with many stadiums including a number of betting kiosks and most clubs running some kind of weekly lottery/half-time draw. It's an undeniable fact - football fans love a punt!

Whilst the gambling companies don't sponsor any of the so-called "big 6" (Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur), many of the Premier League's other big clubs have front of shirts sponsors within the gaming industry, these include:

Everton (Sport Pesa, £10m/yr)

Everton and African gambling firm SportPesa joined forces in 2017, agreeing a 5-year front of shirt sponsorship deal which was described as "the biggest in the club's history". Though never officially released, the Liverpool Echo believes that the deal is worth up to £10m per year.

Fulham (Dafabet, £3m/yr)

Fulham's promotion back to the Premier League in 2018 not only gave them a huge increase in TV revenue, but also a great platform with which to earn more money from sponsors. It was Asian betting firm Dafabet who pounced with a 2-year sponsorship deal which sees their brand presented on the front of Fulham's men's and women's teams shirts.

No official value was revealed but the deal is thought to be worth around £3m per season.

Newcastle United (Fun88, £10m/yr)

Newcastle announced their sponsorship deal with Asian betting firm Fun88 in the summer of 2017. The 3-year deal was again billed as "the biggest in the club's history" but no official value was given. The club's previous deal with Wonga was worth £8m a year The Fun88 agreement puts the Magpies in the top 10 biggest sponsorship deals in English football.

West Ham United (Betway, £10m/yr)

Malta based Betway have sponsored the Hammers since 2015. The original deal worth £6m/year was eclipsed 18 months later when the deal was renewed at an increased price of £10m/yr - a deal which coincided with the club moving into the London Stadium.

Will a change be coming?

However, all of the above could soon be about to change due to the code of conduct which operates within the UK.

Under the scheme, 4 of the biggest gaming companies have agreed to stop all in-game TV advertising... sadly Ray Winston will no longer be a permanent half-time feature on our TV screens!

The code is overseen by the UK government who want to ensure that companies are acting responsibly. It does mean that the money currently spent on TV advertising could be used for more lucrative shirt sponsorship deals in the future.