{"id":543281,"date":"2026-07-15T20:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/543281\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T20:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:58:11","slug":"unlicensed-casinos-could-face-ban-on-sponsoring-uk-sports-teams-from-2027-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/543281\/","title":{"rendered":"Unlicensed casinos could face ban on sponsoring UK sports teams from 2027 | Gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unlicensed casinos could be banned from sponsoring sports teams in the UK from next year, in a move that poses financial questions for Premier League football clubs such as Everton FC and sports including Formula One<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Plans for a ban, revealed by the Guardian on Sunday<\/a> and confirmed by the government on Wednesday, are aimed at protecting vulnerable people and reducing the risk of sport being used by organised crime groups for money laundering.<\/p>\n

Ministers have launched an eight-week consultation seeking responses to its proposals<\/a>, which could lead to a ban coming into force as soon as August 2027, covering logos on kits, stadium infrastructure and pitch-side hoardings.<\/p>\n

Existing rules do not prohibit sports teams from accepting sponsorship from gambling companies without a Gambling<\/a> Commission licence, as long as the companies do not accept bets from British consumers.<\/p>\n

But the government said it was concerned that people in the UK were accessing unlicensed sites via \u201cvirtual private networks\u201d after being attracted by advertising linked to football.<\/p>\n

Under the new proposals, commercial deals that are now allowable would become a criminal offence.<\/p>\n

One such deal is the sleeve sponsorship tie-up signed in June between Everton<\/a> FC and its longstanding partner Stake.com, a crypto casino that does not have a licence to serve customers in Great Britain.<\/p>\n

Everton pursued the agreement, understood to be worth at least \u00a310m, despite the government warning in February that it was considering a crackdown.<\/p>\n

The club now faces the prospect of having to rip up the deal midway through a three-year term that is slated to expire at the end of the 2028-29 season.<\/p>\n

Stake.com has also previously sponsored the Sauber Formula One team. Photograph: Rudy Carezzevoli\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The government said its ban would come into force no later than August 2028 and potentially a year earlier, meaning the club stands to miss out on at least one year of the contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that, although most sectors and sports will be unaffected, some sports or clubs will be impacted,\u201d said the gambling minister, Fiona Twycross.<\/p>\n

The proposed ban is separate to a voluntary decision by Premier League clubs not to advertise gambling on the front of match-day kits from the start of the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n

Everton, whose prominent supporters include the vocal gambling industry critic and likely next prime minister Andy Burnham, is not the only sports team that could be affected by the government\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n

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Premier League clubs with an unlicensed gambling partner include Chelsea, Ipswich (both 8Xbet) and Fulham (SBOTOP), while multiple clubs further down the football pyramid have similar deals.<\/p>\n

Formula One motorsport could also be affected. Stake.com has previously sponsored the Sauber team. Any similar deals struck in future could mean teams having to remove a gambling sponsor\u2019s decals for the British Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

The World Snooker Tour is sponsored by Sportsbet.io, which also does not have a licence to operate in Great Britain.<\/p>\n

The proposed ban does not cover online partnership, which would require separate legislation, although the government said it would consider this if necessary.<\/p>\n

There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by any of the betting companies named.<\/p>\n

The Guardian has contacted Everton FC, Chelsea FC, Ipswich Town FC, Fulham FC, Formula One, the World Snooker Tour, 8Xbet, Stake.com, SBOTOP and Sportsbet.io for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlicensed casinos could be banned from sponsoring sports teams in the UK from next year, in a move…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,46,105],"class_list":["post-543281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}