Entain urges football regulator to ban unlicensed gambling sponsors
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- Entain has formally called on the Independent Football Regulator to clarify that its existing draft rules cover income from unlicensed gambling operators sponsoring Premier League clubs.
- The operator claims six Premier League clubs currently hold sponsorship deals with operators that breach section 33 of the Gambling Act 2005 by providing gambling facilities without a UK licence.
- Entain has also written directly to Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, urging a voluntary ban on all unlicensed gambling partnerships ahead of the 2026/27 season.
Entain has submitted a formal response to the Independent Football Regulator (IFR), calling on the new statutory body to use its existing draft rules to bar English football clubs from accepting sponsorship from unlicensed gambling operators.
The submission was filed last week on 7 May, two days after the IFR’s Second Licensing Consultation (CP 2/26) closed, in which the regulator sought views on a club licensing regime covering the top five tiers of English men’s football.
The IFR’s draft framework already prohibits clubs from accepting income connected to serious criminal conduct. Entain is asking the regulator to confirm in guidance that this provision applies to the unlicensed operators it says are currently sponsoring six Premier League clubs. Those operators, Entain argues, breach section 33 of the Gambling Act 2005, which makes it an offence to provide facilities for gambling in Britain without a licence or exemption.
The submission was filed the same day Entain wrote separately to Richard Masters, Chief Executive of the Premier League, urging an immediate voluntary ban on all unlicensed gambling sponsorships and advertising ahead of the 2026/27 season.
Stella David, Chief Executive of Entain, said:
“Premier League clubs are being sponsored by criminal gambling firms. The Independent Football Regulator can stop this tomorrow by simply acknowledging that unlicensed gambling companies targeting UK customers through English football are breaking the law — plain and simple.
“The regulator does not need any new powers, new legislation, or even a new rule to make this happen. In fact, it has already drafted one. We are asking the regulator to define and apply it before the next season begins. The IFR was created to fix English football’s governance failures. This is one of them.”
Four specific asks
Entain’s full submission contains four concrete recommendations. The first asks the IFR to confirm in guidance that income from unlicensed gambling operators constitutes funds connected to serious criminal conduct.
The second calls for a board attestation requirement in clubs’ Annual Declarations, compelling directors to verify the licence status of any gambling operator with which their club holds a significant commercial arrangement. Entain argues that a vague governance principle cannot carry the same legal weight as a director-signed declaration.
The third asks the IFR to strengthen its Football Club Corporate Governance Code to make reputational risk from commercial partnerships a standing board-level responsibility. The fourth calls for publication of general guidance on due diligence obligations for gambling commercial partners, applicable across all licensed clubs.
Entain argues a club-by-club approach is inadequate for what it describes as a market-wide problem. It points to partnerships between unlicensed operators and top-flight clubs including Stake and Everton, DE.BET and Wolverhampton Wanderers, and SBOTOP and Fulham, all front-of-shirt arrangements.
Nine Premier League clubs are understood to be without a shirt sponsor following the league’s self-imposed gambling ban.
Scale of the problem
Research by Frontier Economics, commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council, found that 1.5 million Britons stake £4.3 billion a year on unlicensed sites. Separately, Yield Sec analysis cited by Entain puts those sites at 9% of the total UK gambling market.
One in five 18-to-24-year-olds has used unlicensed channels, and an estimated 420,000 British schoolchildren are gambling on those sites, according to figures Entain included in its submission. The true scale may be understated, with VPN usage complicating efforts to accurately measure unlicensed activity in the UK.
Football has become one of the unlicensed market’s most effective acquisition tools. WARC research, also commissioned by the Betting and Gaming Council, projects that unlicensed gambling sponsorship will account for more than half of all UK sports sponsorship spend by October 2027, with unregulated firms on course to triple their expenditure relative to 2019/20 levels.
Unlicensed operators are already on course to outpace licensed ad spend in the UK, according to separate analysis. Yield Sec analysis cited in the submission found that 92% of online betting content in certain social media categories directs users to unlicensed sites.
What happens next
The Premier League has already agreed that front-of-shirt gambling sponsorships will be removed from the end of the current 2025/26 season. Sleeve deals, LED perimeter board advertising and social media partnerships will remain, and Entain wants the IFR to ensure those channels are also closed to unlicensed operators.
The government has separately signalled its concern, with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport preparing its own consultation on banning unlicensed operators from sponsoring British sports teams.
Entain argues the IFR should not wait for that process to conclude. The operator contends the regulator’s remit extends beyond sponsorship to the wider governance and commercial conduct of clubs, and that the draft rule is already in place to act on. The push comes amid broader regulatory pressure on the UK market, including affordability checks that have prompted significant bettor resistance.
Whether the IFR accepts Entain’s reading of its own draft framework, and whether the Premier League moves ahead of any formal mandate, will be closely watched by operators, clubs and consumer protection advocates. A decision to enforce the existing provision before the season begins would mark a significant shift in how football governance and gambling compliance interact in Britain.
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