Sports wagering including casino gaming is very intricately fused nowadays in the modern concept of British football. Spectators in front of their TV sets and spectators going to the matches are affected by betting products advertised everywhere. The advocates and critics of sponsorship of teams by iGaming companies are in equal measure suggesting that the activity is a positive factor in the development of football, even as others are aggressively against it in the use of advertisements during live games. Both sides have valid arguments. To obtain the solution of this debate, we will discuss the environs of a target, which consists of two major parts of the UK – England and Scotland.
Current Trends in English Football and Gambling
The introduction of legal gambling in the UK in 2005 resulted in the development of a structured regulatory system under the supervision of the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) which was set up in 2007 with the main responsibility of licensing and regulation. This regulatory regime enforces tough rules among them being the prohibition of using credit cards for cashing in on the casino, which reflects its uncompromising position on the people and company limits. In addition to this, the increasing tax rates on different types of licenses also pose difficulties for the industry. However these obstacles do not overshadow the fact that the English market is to date the most reputable and internationally acclaimed online gambling market in the world and all the brands that have a license to trade there are accepted as reputable in the eyes of the gamers. Yet, the corporate relationship between football clubs and gambling operators is gradually losing its spark, although their work together brings in a lot of revenue.
Multi-million dollar sponsorship agreements with EPL clubs
At the beginning of the year, as per an announcement made by the EPL, bookmarker firms’ company logos would be entirely removed from the clubs’ playing shirts on match days, effective as of season 2026/2027. However, advertising will have just a little restraint on it because LED boards can still be toggled around the pitch, more stadiums will have it, and training uniforms will also be used to market it.
Also during the previous season, EPL had sporting rights sponsored by betting companies in a total of eight of its participating clubs like Dafabet with Bournemouth, Hollywoodbet with Brentford, Stake with Everton, etc.. The aggregate value of such contracts sums £60m pounds as a matter of fact on an annual basis.
The stance of those against gambling advertising
The opponents of gambling ads point out that the number of people with compulsive gambling problems, including young people and minors, grows alarmingly each year. On the other hand, they point out that the advocates of the ban on gambling advertising are mostly people who have legitimate reasons to worry.
The United Kingdom Gambling Commission (UKGC) study report makes an estimate that the prevalence of gambling-related problems is as many as eight times more than was earlier suggested. To illustrate, the committee postulates that at 1.3 % of the population having a problem with gambling or being closely involved with another affected person, than the earlier figure of only 0.3 % UK population being addicted to gaming.
Opinions of supporters of gambling advertising
The basic idea of a message that gambling companies are actively fighting shadow financing and investing large sums of advertising which is very important for the sport development especially in England, is the main message of pro gambling advertising supporters.
Some of these clubs can sustain themselves solely on the revenue from betting companies, gambling groups and so on. If, due to the ban on collaborations and co-operations, thousands of amateur teams and tens of professional ones had just dissolved from the world map of football, then maybe our dream of modernization should be taken down a notch.
Current Trends in Scottish Football and Gambling
However, in the Scottish jurisdiction there has been an upward trend in participation similar to those experienced in England, more people engaging in gambling and sport betting. Local authorities do stress the situation is manageable as the existence of multiple groups such as GambleAware to support education and awareness on the prevention and treatment of addictive gambling in the community is seen.
Based on the figures of Scottish Public Health Observatory data, about 0.4% of the adult population, which is up to 18 thousand people, are diagnosed as the problem gamblers, and also, 1.5% (68 thousand) of the population (adult) are of risk ones. In particular, men having gambling problems is up to thrice more than women being observed from the male gamblers at 0.7% compared to that of the female at 0.1%.
When the EPL clubs made a call to ban gambling companies from being the title sponsors of the league starting from the 2026/ 2027 seasons, the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) issued a statement that it does not support such a course. The SPFL noted that taking such a decision remains the responsibility of each individual club and there could be benefit from such sponsorships to many clubs in terms of finance, for instance.
Sponsorship from Gambling Companies Among Scottish Clubs
Gambling companies contribute to the economy of Scottish football in many ways especially since the Premiership in their country does not have the global exposure that the English Premier League (EPL) receives. Throughout the 2022/2023 season, Dafabet – the title sponsor for Celtic, 32Red and Unibet, the title sponsors for Rangers, and Quinn Casino – the title sponsor for Dundee United, were the four gambling companies on the scene. It should be noted though that the size and contractual amounts of the deals are far more insignificant compared to between the leagues of English Championship, which is an evident difference in the way the money is spread across them.
