Would the Premier League survive without sports betting?

Has Sports Betting Become an Integral Part of the Premier League?

Sports betting brands sponsoring major football and sports teams certainly isn’t new nor is it unique to the UK. In fact, it’s already a global thing, with many pro sports teams around the world partnering with gambling firms to build revenue streams. 

Still, nowadays, it might seem as though you can’t watch a Premier League match without seeing a football shirt, stadium or commercial advertising a sports betting brand. Of course, there’s a very good reason for this. Nearly 60% of clubs in England’s top two divisions are sponsored by sportsbook brands. Among these clubs include 9 of the 20 in the EPL and 17 of the 24 in the EFL Championship.

More specifically, in regards to the EPL 2018/2019 season, gambling sponsors include:

• Mansion.com (Bournemouth)

• LaBa360 (Burnley)

• ManBetX (Crystal Palace)

• SportPesa (Everton)

• Dafabet (Fullham)

• OPE Sport (Huddersfield)

• Fun88 (Newcastle United)

• Betway (West Ham United)

• W88 (Wolves)

Interestingly, among these various sportsbook brands, only Mansion and Betway make the list of leading UK football betting brands that have a significant presence in the country. Many of the other firms, like Dafabet, SportPesa and W88 aren’t actually popular among UK punters.
Instead, these international sportsbooks have their sights set on the overseas market and the global appeal that they enjoy simply by allying with the Premier League.

Be that as it may, there’s no question that gambling brands dominate EPL shirt sponsorship. However, whilst nearly half of the league’s clubs are locked into advertising deals with gambling brands, it’s not actually the first time that a single industry has been king of Premier League sponsorship. Twenty years ago, a very different story was being told.

Once upon a time, the electronics industry ruled the field

Believe it or not, even though it may seem that the gambling industry has always been the EPL shirt sponsor dominator, it wasn’t actually until the early 2000’s that a bookmaker appeared as a sponsor for a Premier League team. The first to achieve this success was Betfair, when it signed a deal with Fullham back in 2002.

Prior to this, Premier League sponsorships were dominated by breweries and cigarette manufacturers in the 1980’s and early 90s, until they were pushed out by UK and international electronics companies. In fact, in the 1998/1999 season, there were 9 EPL teams sponsored by electronics companies (including two teams that were oddly sponsored by the same company, Sanderson):

• JVC (Arsenal)

• Mesh Computers (Charlton Athletic)

• EDS (Derby County)

• Packard Bell (Leeds United)

• Sharp (Manchester United)

• Sanderson (Sheffield Wednesday)

• Sanderson (Southampton)

• Packard Electronics (Tottenham Hotspur)

• Elonex (Wimbledon)

That being said, once gambling companies dug in their football sponsorship heels, they haven’t let go since. The number of gambling brand-related sponsorships has steadily increased over the years in the Premier League from 2002. It finally reached its peak in the 2016/2017 season when 10 out of the 20 teams in the league were sponsored by a sportsbook.

Is the Premier League relying too much on sports betting sponsorships?

The increase in gambling shirt sponsorship among the various leagues and clubs in English football as well as the influx of gambling TV adverts during matches, has become a hot topic of debate among Brits and UK government officials, with many wanting to see the gambling ads and sponsorships cut back or eliminated altogether.  

Back in November, the Labour Party called for a total ban on sports betting adverts during live televised events, after studies revealed 90 minutes of gambling adverts were shown during the World Cup. Moreover, other reports from the UK Gambling Commission have revealed that there are 430,000 problem gamblers in the UK. Additionally, there is a worrying development that the number of children gambling in recent years is rising.

Some believe that the increase in gambling sponsorship is to blame.

How integral are gambling sponsorships to the Premier League?

Whether it’s cigarette manufacturers, breweries, electronics companies, gambling firms or some other industry, sponsorship is nothing new in pro football or the Premier League. The bottom line is that clubs, leagues, and broadcasters, are first and foremost, businesses, and businesses need income and revenue streams in order to both survive and thrive. They obtain most of this income and revenue via sponsorship.

For instance, this season, alone, a total of £47.3 million has been given to shirt sponsorship in the Premier League by betting firms. This money is what helps to keep the EPL and its clubs alive. Without these multi-million-pound sponsorship deals, it raises the question of whether or not clubs would still be able to continue to attract the types of players that keep fans enthralled with the game.

That being said, is it integral for gambling firms to sponsor the EPL? No. Just as it did before, the league can obtain the money it needs from sponsors from just about any industry.  However, this doesn’t mean that sports betting isn’t important to the EPL. On the contrary, with mobile and evolving technology - sponsorship or not - gambling is and will continue to be an integral part of the sports experience.