The most successful gambling sponsorship in the Premier League of all time

Seven English Premier League teams have gambling sponsors on the front of their kits in the 2023/24 season. Numerous others have sleeve sponsorships or other deals with sportsbooks. With so many clubs having gambling sponsorship, let’s take a look at whether the sponsorships have an impact on the pitch, the history of these deals, and the most successful Premier League gambling sponsorship of all-time.

Gambling sponsorship in football is a relatively new thing. Before the 2000s, they weren’t super common. Now, almost every club has some sort of official gambling partner. Why is this? Money, that’s why. 

Sponsorships with sportsbooks and online casinos can be a key stream of revenue for clubs. More revenue means being able to buy better players, pay higher wages, and invest in better club infrastructure. Each of these things can affect a club’s position in the Premier League table at the end of the season. 

There have been dozens of teams with gambling sponsorships in the Premier League. Some have fared better than others. Here are some of the best performing teams with gambling sponsors in Premier League history.

Betway - West Ham United

In addition to being one of the best football sportsbooks in the UK, Betway is also one of the most successful gambling sponsors in the Premier League. West Ham finished in seventh the first year Betway took over as their front of shirt sponsor in 2015. Since that season, the Hammers have qualified for the Europa league three four times and won the Europa Conference League in 2023. 

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MansionBet - Tottenham Hotspur, Bournemouth & Crystal Palace

Tottenham haven’t won a trophy since the 2008 League Cup. In that match, Spurs came out wearing their traditional Lilywhites against Chelsea in blue. On the front of that Lilywhite kit, was a MansionBet logo. Tottenham won the match 2-1 in extra time thanks to a 94th minute goal by Jonathan Woodgate.

MansionBet also served as the front of kit sponsor for Bounemouth during their first five seasons as a Premier League club between 2015-2020. The leading sportsbook also had a betting sponsorship deal with Crystal Palace from 2015-2017. 

12Bet - Wigan Athletic 

12Bet are no strangers to a Premier League gambling sponsorship. In one form or another, the sports betting site has sponsored Arsenal, Crystal Palace, Leicester, West Brom, and a half a dozen other English football clubs. Their most successful sponsorship, however, was Wigan Athletic.

In the 2012/13 season, Wigan Athletic accomplished one of the rarest things in football. The Latics won the FA Cup and were relegated from the Premier League all in the same season. 

Fun88 - Newcastle United & Burnley

Fun88 is another Asian betting sponsorship in the Premier League. The company first made its name with Burnley in 2015/16, but their football betting sponsorship wasn’t enough to keep the Clarets up and they were relegated. 

They had more luck with Newcastle. Since 2017, Fun88 has been the club’s main betting sponsorship partner. In that time, the Magpies have finished in the top half twice, played in a League Cup final, and qualified for the Champions League in 2022/23.

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Out of the dozens of Premier League clubs who have had a gambling sponsorship over the years, some have been more unlucky than others. Here are some snake-bitten Premier League clubs when it comes to gambling sponsorship in sport. 

Hull City 

Hull City have been relegated three times wearing a kit with a sports betting sponsor on the front. No club has more. In the 2009/10 season, the Tigers went down with a betting sponsorship. In 2012, it was the previously mentioned 12Bet. Finally, Hull City were also relegated in 2016/17 with SportPesa on their kit.

Fulham

Fulham are one of the seven current Premier League teams with a front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship. The Cottagers are in the middle of one their best seasons ever. It hasn’t always gone so well for them though. They were relegated in 2014 with Marathon as their sponsor, in 2018/19 wearing Dafabet, and again in 2021 during a partnership with BetVictor.

Sponsorship	Contract	Relegation	Bookmaker
Marathonbet	2013-2015	2013/14	Betting Sites UK
Dafabet	2018-2020	2018/19
BetVictor	2020-2022	2020/21
W88	2022-2023	-

Burnley

Burnley are on track to be relegated from the Premier League season. Their shirt sponsor is betting company W88. If they are relegated, it wouldn’t be the first time they went down with a football gambling sponsorship. In 2015, they were relegated with Fun88. During the 2021/22 season, they went down with Spreadex Sports on their kits.

Sponsorship	Contract	Relegation	Bookmakers
Fun88	2010-2015	2014/2015
Dafabet	2016-2018	-	Betting Sites UK
LaBa360	2018-2019	-
LoveBet	2019-2021	-
Spreadex Sports	2021-2022	2021/2022
W88	2023-2024	-

There’s a misconception among some fans that every gambling sponsorship in football means bad luck for the team with the gambling sponsorship. However, that’s not really true. In reality, it’s more about the quality of teams who tend to have gambling sponsorships. 

The biggest clubs in world football have hundreds of companies begging to sponsor their kits, shirt sleeves, luxury boxes, and pretty much anything else the club will sell them. That’s not the case for smaller clubs. These are the clubs who will sign on to a gambling sponsorship. 

For these small clubs, the money they get from a Premier League betting sponsorship can be the difference between survival and relegation, so they can bring success. On the other hand, there isn’t really any evidence that gambling sponsorships themselves can bring a team down.

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— Mighty Tips (@MightyTips) May 10, 2024

As you can tell from this piece, a wide variety of Premier League clubs have had gambling sponsorship. These clubs have had varying levels of success, with some reaching the heights of European football and others going down to the Championship. This era is about to come to an end though when the Premier League bans gambling sponsorship in the 2025 season.

In 2023, the Premier League clubs announced a voluntary Premier League gambling sponsorship ban. The ban will come into effect in the 2025-26 season and will only apply to front-of-shirt gambling sponsorship.