Premier League clubs accused of greed after adding 11 betting sponsors | Bournemouth

Premier League clubs have been accused of greed for signing “desperate deals for a few extra bucks” after Bournemouth signed a betting firm as their shirt sponsor for at least next season. The ban will come into effect from the 2026-27 campaign.

Bournemouth's decision, announced on Tuesday, means more than half of England's top-flight teams will have a betting company on the front of their shirt, up from eight last season. Chelsea is the only Premier League club yet to announce a front-of-shirt sponsor. They started last season without one after his supporters lobbied against a deal with an online casino.

Premier League clubs agreed to restrict betting sponsorships last April, but with that ban two years away, clubs continue to strike deals with gambling companies, including cryptocurrency casinos and Asian betting companies. Premier League clubs voluntarily restricting sponsorships from 2026-27 sparked a mixed response, with campaigns such as The big stepdedicated to ending football's long-standing relationship with gambling, wary of legal loopholes and branding still allowed on shirt sleeves and advertising posters.

Aston Villa, BournemouthBrentford, Crystal Palace, Everton, Fulham, Leicester, Nottingham Forest, Southampton, West Ham and Wolves will all display a gambling company on the front of their shirts. “Premier League clubs must know that gambling harm is a serious public health issue destroying many lives in their communities and around the world, yet they continue to blindly sign these desperate deals for a few extra dollars,” a spokesperson for The Big Step said.

Referring to how Spain, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands ban clubs from shirt sponsorship deals with betting companies, the charity, founded in 2019, said: “Sporting greed does not justify exposing millions of young fans to addictive and harmful products. The government must follow the example of several European countries and end betting advertising and sponsorship in football.”

Bournemouth have announced a “record” two-year deal with Asian firm bj88, replacing Dafabet, which has been their sponsor for the past two seasons. The latest deal is understood to be worth almost double the previous one and almost double the sum offered by non-betting firms. Last week, Southampton, promoted to the Premier League last season, announced a partnership with Rollbit, a “cryptocurrency and NFT casino”, although the club made no such reference, describing it as “an innovator in the world of online gaming”.

Crystal Palace, whose shirts were sponsored by car retailer Cinch last season, and Wolves, previously sponsored by AstroPay, have both confirmed betting partners as shirt sponsors. Wolves and Palace announced “record-breaking” deals, the former with Vietnamese firm DeBet and the latter with Asian operator Net88. Online betting and cryptocurrency firm BC Game has replaced King Power as Leicester’s promoted shirt sponsor.

Luton, who were relegated to the Championship last season, are among 35 clubs backing The Big Step and the club's chief executive Gary Sweet has outlined their hardline stance against partnering with the industry. He estimated that Luton's decision to opt out of betting sponsors in the Premier League cost them around £3m last season. Luton were the only club in the Premier League or English Football League not to display betting adverts at their stadium during league matches.

Tranmere, AFC Wimbledon and Forest Green are other sponsors of The Big Step. Swansea City stopped being associated with betting companies ahead of the 2020-21 season.

Tony Bloom, Brighton's owner, has made a fortune from sports betting but has previously supported a ban on shirt sponsorships. Brighton's long-standing sponsor is American Express. “I don't think having gambling sponsorships on shirts is a good thing,” he said. “But I understand that gambling companies pay better, so it's a difficult decision for clubs to turn them down.”

The Gambling Commission is expected to release figures from its most recent survey on Thursday. Last November, the commission published data suggesting up to 2.5% of the British adult population could be experiencing “gambling problems”, which would equate to around 1.3 million people.

The Premier League said it had become the first sporting league in the UK to voluntarily ban sponsorship on the front of shirts and was “working with other sports on developing a new code for responsible gambling sponsorship”.