UK Targets Unlicensed Gambling Sponsors After Everton Deal
The UK government plans to launch a consultation on restrictions for sports sponsorship by gambling operators without a British licence, according to The Guardian. The move follows Everton FC’s three-year sleeve sponsorship agreement with Stake.com, as well as warnings from Entain and the Gambling Commission.
Sources familiar with the plans told The Guardian the consultation will launch shortly. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport first said in February that it would review the issue in spring.
Everton Deal Raises Urgency
Everton announced its latest agreement with Stake.com during the delay. The crypto casino previously sponsored the front of the club’s shirts but will move to the sleeve before the Premier League’s voluntary front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship ban takes effect for the 2026-27 season.
That voluntary restriction applies to licensed and unlicensed betting brands. It does not cover shirt sleeves, training kits or pitchside advertising, which remain available to gambling companies as commercial inventory.
Stake left the licensed British market in 2025 after its white-label partner, TGP Europe, surrendered its operating licence during a regulatory review. The regulatory scrutiny included a Gambling Commission inquiry into why Stake’s branding appeared in content posted by adult performer Bonnie Blue, who described a stunt that targeted 18-year-old first-year students at Nottingham Trent University.
Stake previously told The Guardian that it did not consent to the use of its branding by the content creators. The company says it does not accept bets from UK customers.
Current law does not automatically stop an operator without a British licence from becoming a sponsor of a UK football club. The proposed consultation will look at ways to close that gap, with a focus on brands that rely on British sport for visibility.
The Gambling Commission has warned clubs and their executives that they could face prosecution if sponsorship activity promotes an unlicensed operator that conducts gambling transactions with British consumers. The regulator issued that warning shortly after Stake’s exit from the licensed UK market.
Entain Raised the Alarm in June
Stella David, CEO of Entain, raised the issue in a letter to gambling minister Baroness Twycross in early June. The Guardian, which reviewed the letter, reported that David warned clubs could treat the government’s delay as a green light to sign new agreements before any restriction took effect.
David’s letter also urged the government to tell the Premier League that sponsorship contracts could face cancellation during the season if ministers introduced a ban later. She argued that some unlicensed operators that take bets illegally in the UK “profit international criminal networks, deprive the Treasury of tax revenues” and harm vulnerable consumers. The Guardian said there was no suggestion that David’s allegations referred to Stake or that Stake had committed wrongdoing.
Burnham Under Pressure Over Everton Links
A senior industry source called on Andy Burnham to publicly condemn the Everton-Stake deal. Burnham is a lifelong Everton fan, Mayor of Greater Manchester and a vocal critic of the gambling industry, and he did not respond to a request for comment.
A government spokesperson confirmed that ministers were weighing a ban. The spokesperson said sponsorship gives operators without UK licences greater visibility and could direct supporters towards sites that do not meet British standards. Everton declined to comment, while Stake did not respond to The Guardian.
💡TGJ Take
A ban would close the most obvious gap in football’s voluntary front-of-shirt restrictions. Clubs may lose access to offshore sponsors willing to pay for sleeve, training-kit and stadium inventory, while licensed operators would face less competition from brands that do not carry the same UK compliance costs. The Burnham angle adds political pressure around the consultation and makes further delay harder for ministers to defend. Ministers still need to decide if current agreements can run to expiry or face early termination, and Everton’s three-year Stake deal gives that question an immediate commercial test.
