Market Share of 40%: All British Football Clubs That Would Be Affected by a Gambling Sponsor Ban

Feb 4, 2021

by Simon

After we reported about a potential gambling ban on football shirts yesterday, we want to also take a look at the current situation in the leagues that will be affected, namely the Premier League and Championship.

A Ban of Gambling Companies on British Football Shirts Is Looking Increasingly Likely

Feb 3, 2021

Gambling Companies Sponsor 40% of Premier League and Championship Clubs

The Premier League, arguably the world's most competitive club league competition, is of course the biggest stage in Great Britain. Currently, 8 out of 20 teams have a gambling firm as main sponsor. This amounts to a share of 40%.

bookmakers do not care about lower-league sides

The share of main sponsors that are part of the gambling industry is even larger in the Championship, 10 of 24 clubs or 42% are sponsored by a gambling company. Interestingly, bookmakers do not care about lower-league sides. Not a single League One, League Two or National League side has a main sponsor from the gambling industry.

Another interesting aspect of the gambling ban, if it will happen, is how exactly the new prime minister Boris Johnson will define a gambling sponsor as there are also companies present like Football Index (Nottingham Forest, Queens Park Rangers), theoretically a gambling company, or USG (Sheffield United), a trading company, that allows high-risk CFD trading and acts 'unscrupulously towards customers'.

Another variable is how exactly a gambling sponsor ban would look like. Will gambling companies not be allowed to be main sponsor or sleeve sponsor? How will official social media accounts of the football clubs be treated? There will be a lot of questions and only time will tell if the government of the UK is really committed to this plan.

Number/share of Premier League main shirt sponsors from the gambling industry - 2013/14 until 2019/20

Are you surprised that so many Premier League and Championship clubs have a company from the gambling sector as main sponsor? Would you like to see their obtrusive logos disappear? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.