The 2026/27 Premier League season kicks off amid a charged and long-running debate around gambling’s visibility in England’s most popular sport. But this season, the goalposts have shifted.
For one thing, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) is actively consulting on whether to ban unlicensed companies from sponsoring not just Premier League clubs, but UK sports in general.
Also, licensed betting operators have been changing their narrative in the debate, Entain chief among them. The LSE firm has taken aim at the “nerve and audacity” of unlicensed and illegal betting companies, as a senior executive at the company tells SBC News.
One of the biggest gambling firms in the UK via its ownership of Ladbrokes Coral and the only British betting company left on the FTSE 100 index, Entain has been pursuing a relentless campaign against illegal and unlicensed gambling activity in the UK.
Its main area of focus? Football, and specifically sponsorships. From the 2026/27 season onwards, betting companies will no longer be allowed to sponsor the front of Premier League shirts, but there is a catch – clubs can still work with both licensed and unclaimed firms.
Entain believes that regulated British betting firms are at a disadvantage to unlicensed and illegal operators when it comes to finances, being subject to a hefty new tax regime and regulation, such as around advertising and marketing.
But Entain also thinks the regulated market can gain an upper hand on the football pitch.
“Licensed operators in the UK have never been more responsible and more regulated, and operate under more stringent regulations,” says Simon Clare, the Group’s Sponsorship Director.
“That’s happened over the past 20 years, whether it’s the whistle-to-whistle ban on advertising, rules ensuring we’re not targeting under-18s.
“We can be proud in many ways of how the licenced sector is run, it’s just that a lot of that means we have become quite disadvantaged to operators that don’t have to operate to those rules.
“Even the recent tax change in the budget meant that we have to change some of the ways we trade, the offers we give consumers, the margins we give, to claw back some of those taxes.
“That is just fuel to the black market, which can outpunch us off on offers and bonuses, as well as play to not being on gamestop and not having to provide documents.”
Entain’s football appeal
Entain’s anti-black market campaign has put football at the forefront. The communications started with an open letter from Entain’s Chief Executive Officer, Stella David, to her counterpart at the Premier League, Richard Masters.
The letter called for the Premier League to put an end to its clubs’ commercial dealings with unlicensed betting firms – companies that are visible in the Premier League but do not have a Gambling Commission licence, nor are active in the UK.
As it stands, there is nothing illegal about Premier League clubs working with offshore, unlicensed betting companies, as well as those companies in question do not directly target British customers.
With the UK’s regulated industry and the government heavily engaged against illegal gambling, however – the government has even set up a dedicated taskforce within the DCMS, which is overseeing the aboemtnioned consultation on banning unlicensed sponsorship – Entain feels that allowing unlicensed sponsorship activity in the top-flight to continue doesn’t send the right message.
“The black market is a societal issue in Britain,” says Clare, adding that the regulated industry must talk to “media platforms, banking and financial services, or the Premier League” to ensure everyone is doing their part.
“The Premier League has recognised its responsibility with the front of shirt ban, and we want it to go further, because it’s all part of that concussion and uncertainty around who is licensed and who is not,” he continues.
“They play a key role in that. Ladbrokes is a partner of Liverpool FC, that is something we are incredibly proud of, and one of the reasons they wanted to partner with Ladbrokes is because we are a respected, national licensed British bookmaker. That was a nice thing to hear.
“Clearly all clubs have their own commercial pressures, priorities and objectives, but it’s a very successful league and we’re appealing to corporate responsibility, for British clubs to play a part in this important campaign.”
Since launching its campaign, Entain has also stepped up its own sponsorship activity. As well as maintaining Ladbrokes’ partnership with Liverpool, the firm penned a deal between Coral and EFL Championship club Birmingham City in late July.
Entain’s gameplan
Entain would ultimately receive a response from the Premier League, with the top-flight noting that the arrangements its clubs have entered into with gambling firms are lawful.
This is of course, at least the case for now, with DCMS shifting towards banning unlicensed gambling sponsorships, even if this prospect is still just subject to consultation.
This consultation was also acknowledged by the Premier Legaue. The league added that it will continue to work with the DCMS and Gambling Commission.
Finally, the Premier League has asserted that its member clubs take compliance measures seriously, such as ensuring geoblocking measures take place in the event a partner operator loses or withdraws its Gambling Commission licence – Chelsea’s partner 8xbet did this in quite a novel way last year, for example.
“Football has huge appeal to sponsors and brands, and not just betting brands,” Clare says.
“You can see it especially in the local leagues, you see more licensed sponsors – the ones focused on the UK.
“I feel that the Premier League is the key battleground for football as a whole. The more that there is a value on being a protected and licensed operator in the UK, the more money there will be flowing into sports sponsorship and football sponsorship.”
Since its conversation with the Premier League, Entain has taken its campaign against unlicensed gambling sponsorships to other avenues.
The company contacted the heads of Premier League clubs and the Independent Football Regulator (IFR) in May, and the UK Intellectual Property Office (UKIPO) in June.
During the World Cup, Entain published its research which it had commissioned into the social media marketing activity of unlicensed gambling platforms.
The research examined marketing activity across X, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok, observing how certain platforms target ‘manosphere’ content, while others heavily utilise the images of professional footballers in AI generated content.
“The nerve and audacity of the unlicensed market is extraordinary,” Clare says.
A global league
However, Masters and the Premier League are speaking the truth when they point out that unlicensed betting sponsorships are not actually illegal.
While DCMS may want to change this, and is consulting on it, they are still legitimate commercial partnerships, and will be until as and when the government decides to ban them.
There is another factor to consider here – the Premier League’s global visibility. The league’s global audience is routinely estimated to be over four billion people, maybe as high as five billion.
As such, many firms active in other nations have an interest in harnessing the league’s commercial power. This is one reason so many Asian-facing companies partner with Premier League clubs – 8xbet and Chelsea, BJ88 and Bournemouth, W88 and Sunderland, for example.
With the league’s global visibility in mind, why shouldn’t overseas companies get a piece of the commercial pie? In Entain’s view, it comes down to the fact that, ultimately, the league is a UK league, the top-fight of English football, and not an international one despite its global popularity.
“It really comes down to the fact these are British football clubs, they are active in Britain, but if you look at other countries they govern sponsorship of sports under national rules. I think that’s right,” says Clare.
“It’s not a huge ask to expect that the betting brands who sponsor these clubs are licensed in the UK.”
The charm offensive
It’s clear that Entain’s big hope for the 2026/27 Premier League season -alongside some good trading on its Ladbrokes and Coral sportsbook platforms one could imagine – is for the DCMS consultation to result in an outright ban on unclaimed betting activity.
The other issue that the regulated market may face in its campaign against unlicensed gambling, however, is that it doesn’t always benefit from the best image itself.
Exhibit A of that being Entain making headlines back in 2022 when it was hit with a then-record enforcement penalty of £17.2m.
The regulated industry, for all its arguments against unlicensed and illegal gambling and the impact over-regulation or over-taxation can have on these risks, will always find itself facing claims of whataboutism.
This has not shaken Entain’s confidence in its campaign around football sponsorship though.
“We know that everyone recognises the threat, we’re just agitating for speed and pace,” says Clare.
“I think a few years ago there was whataboutism, people were denying the existence of the black market, but in parallel with the growth of it the acceptance and concern about the growth of it is shared across all relevant parties.”
Of course, the final issue to discuss is finances. There is a reason many clubs partner with offshore firms, whether prior to the unlicensed betting ban or after it – money. In an age of FFP and PSR requirements, clubs need to keep the revenue coming in.
The simple regulated industry needs to make the case that it is better to work with it rather than the unregulated one. That working with companies which will work with them on community initiatives and diverse campaigns, rather than just a logo on a shirt sleeve or shorts, is better in the long-term.
“You want to protect the licensed sector because that’s the one that will be around,” Clare adds. “The unlicensed firms don’t build on the sponsorship, they don’t do community work, they don’t contribute.”
If the industry has to go “on the charm offensive”, he says, this needs to be the argument – that long-term, the regulated alternative “is much more sustainable and rewarding to clubs, beyond the money being paid to them”.
It’s one hell of a sales task, that’s for sure…