What Is an Official Betting Partner of a Football Club?

W88 Betting partner Tottenham Hotspur
Cosmin Iftode / Bigstockphoto.com

The heavy presence of betting companies in football is something that has come under increased scrutiny in recent years. Much of the discussion has focussed on front-of-shirt sponsorship deals though, as these are the most visible partnership clubs form with gambling firms.  During the 2022/23 season, eight Premier League clubs donned a gambling sponsor on their shirt and this was not an unusually high figure. In fact, you would have had to go back to the 2015/16 season before you found a campaign with fewer betting brands on shirts.

Anti-gambling groups have long campaigned for action against this cosy and seemingly omnipresent relationship betting firms and football clubs have. In the UK, they secured a notable victory in 2023 when the government announced that betting brands could not feature on the front of shirts starting from the 2026/27 season. Even tougher restrictions have been imposed in the likes of Italy and Spain, demonstrating there are some efforts being made to reduce the gambling industry’s close links with football.

Do not expect betting firms to leave the footballing arena altogether though, as other commercial relationships are available. In addition to sleeve sponsors (which will still be allowed in the Premier League after 2026/27) and pitch-side advertisements, clubs are still free to have ‘official betting partners’. So far there has been virtually no effort to crackdown on these arrangements.

Italy is the only nation to have banned such links but only domestic ones, meaning Serie A teams can forge partnerships that apply outside of the country. Additionally, there have been murmurs that the Italian government may soften their general stance on gambling sponsorship as it is costing clubs huge sums of money and limiting their competitiveness on the continent.

The current situation is that official gambling partners appear to be under very little threat in terms of government regulation. But what exactly are these partnerships and why do so many clubs opt to sign such deals? The term is one we hear a lot and certainly see both at grounds and on betting sites, but what does it really mean?

Official Gambling Partners Are Everywhere

UEFA is partnered with BWIN
Bwin is the official partner of UEFA

The first point that is worth stressing is that gambling partners are so prevalent in football, much more so than front-of-shirt sponsors. Put the name of a major club into a search engine followed by ‘official gambling partner’ and you are almost guaranteed to find information about some recent deal. Even leagues and competitions, not just clubs, can end up having official betting partners. In 2021, for example, Bwin penned a deal to become the partner of the UEFA Europa League and Conference League. During the same year, Unibet and 32Red became the new official betting partners of the National League, the fifth tier of English football.

The two-year National League deal highlights just how widespread such partnerships are. It is not just the big Premier League giants penning such deals, but clubs right through the footballing pyramid. In 2020, then-League Two side Morecambe announced they had an exclusive sponsorship deal with betting.bet. It is not just an English phenomenon either, take the example of the relatively well-known SBOBET penning a deal to be the official betting partner of Irish outfit, Dundalk FC, in 2016.

Across countries and across leagues, official betting partnership deals are occurring all the time. Often they are with brands you have never heard of too, such is the sheer number of online gambling websites out there with some decent funding available. It does provide an easy way for a relatively, or even completely, unknown brand to attach itself to a global name. How effectively it is at turning this increased visibility into active customers is another matter mind you. The safe assumption would be though that such deals must be worth it otherwise why would betting companies keep on signing them and paying a lot of money to do so?

What Does Being an Official Gambling Partner Actually Mean?

Betting partners on jerseys and stadium
Cosmin Iftode / Bigstockphoto.com

So, you have read in a recent club press release that some, possibly obscure, bookmaker is now the official betting sponsor or ‘global sponsor’ of your favourite club. Often such releases will be accompanied by a few positive quotes from both the club and the company saying how happy they are with the deal. This example from Scottish outfit, Dundee United, is a very standard example of how these kinds of partnerships end up making themselves public.

It is clearer why clubs are delighted to sign these deals because it gives them a sizeable chunk of money for very little. But why do they appeal to gambling companies so much? Well, being an official gambling partner can come with different perks based on what club a business is dealing with. Bigger clubs can usually offer better packages but ultimately teams can agree whatever terms they like with a betting firm. There is no universal standard for what being a gambling partner entails, this is purely for the two parties to thrash out during negations. That said, you will find that such deals do feature a good degree of overlap in terms of what the betting company gets out of it.

Major Presence in Stadium

For one, an official betting partner will typically enjoy a major presence in and around the stadium of the team they are sponsoring. The brand logo can end up featuring in a number of places, whether it be the backdrop during interviews, LED advertising boards, static boards, match day programmes or branded kiosks.

Basically, any match-going fan is quickly going to spot the name of the bookmaker in various locations. Deals often include a digital element to them as well so this means featuring prominently on a club website or app, should one exist. Ultimately, the key part of these deals is to enable a brand to be seen by a wider audience, and stadiums and regularly visited digital platforms are a useful tool for this.

While this is usually the most fundamental part of any betting partnership agreement, there can be extras included. For instance, Aston Villa signed an in-stadium partnership agreement with William Hill, which enabled the giant bookmaker to offer its betting services within Villa Park. When Sheffield Wednesday agreed to the very same arrangement, there was much uproar, so do not expect this type of deal to become too commonplace in future.

Betting Partner Can Use Team & Players in Promotions

A less controversial perk a betting partner can receive is using the team and players in promotional images. When 12Bet became Arsenal’s Asian betting partner, they received access to first-team players to create content and other promotional assets.

Betting firms also can incorporate clubs into offers they provide their customers. When Betway teamed up with Brighton and Hove Albion they were able to source tickets for some matches that featured as part of their free prize draw. Betting firms may also offer club supporters a variety of other perks to get them engaged with their platform whether it be exclusive hospitality or signed merchandise and so on.

Clubs May Take Active Role to Promote Their Partner

As part of a partnership agreement, the clubs themselves may take an active role in promoting the brand too, rather than leaving it all to the betting companies themselves. Take this example here in which Leicester City encouraged fans to get enhanced offers through its partner, PariMatch.

Having special deals for a fan base, or in favour of the team, is not a bad way of getting new customers to a platform. The now defunct 138.com, former global partners of Newcastle United, used to run an offer which gave money back on losing bets if there was a goal in the first 10 minutes of some of their matches.

Betting Partner Often Takes Part in Club Initiatives

Although rarely an actual requirement, betting partners also sometimes try and gain some exposure by taking part in or donating to club initiatives. Before becoming their shirt sponsor, former official betting partner Hollywoodbets donated £100 for every goal Brentford scored during a two-month period. This money went directly to the Brentford FC Community Sports Trust.

Following on from this, the Hollywood Brand and Communications Manager said “From the beginning of our sponsorship, getting involved in community projects was always top of our agenda,” which makes for some decent PR.

How Do Clubs Benefit from Having Betting Partners?

Football ownership

The main answer to this question is that betting firms pay. Exactly how much such deals are worth is something we will look at in the next section. We hardly need to cover why a football club increasing their revenue is good but are there other benefits aside from just the value of the contract? There can be at times. Particularly when agreeing deals with non-UK based betting firms, clubs can enjoy an increased presence in these regions and seek to gain fans in that way.

If a club signs a deal with an Asian firm, for example, it is a way of getting their name and club badge out to a much wider audience. This can often result in clubs creating social media channels in that region as they are more recognisable. Some of this will convert to new fans and this is never a bad thing for a football club because more fans means more revenue.

There is also simply the fact that clubs will gain useful contacts when dealing with well-backed bookmakers and casinos. By becoming familiar with the right people, especially those in overseas markets, this can help facilitate future arrangements between companies and clubs.

How Much Do Gambling Partners Pay?

The answer to this question is harder to find as usually the details of such arrangements do not find their way into the hands of the press. It is common to see financial information reported for any front of shirt or stadium rights naming deal but these less high-profile deals for betting partners do not usually come with any numbers attached.

Very occasionally though an estimated fee is reported in the press such as Man Utd’s partnership with Yabo Sport. This top-tier global sponsorship deal was believed to be worth as much as £3m a year. Although there has been a general increase in what clubs charge since this 2019 contract, Man Utd do pen some of the most lucrative deals in world football. As such, do not expect too many other teams to generate quite this much annually from a global betting partner.

Still, for top-tier clubs in the likes of England or other major footballing nations, such arrangements can feasibly be worth a seven-figure fee annually, so they are far from insignificant. Clubs are also not limited to just having just one official betting partner because some deals apply to specific regions of the world. Geographically restricted deals are naturally worth less than ones offering global coverage but they can still attract handsome contracts, especially in Asia where the market is incredibly competitive.

Multiple Gambling Partners

Dafabet on Fulham jersey
Cosmin Iftode / Bigstockphoto.com

Following on from the point above, clubs regularly have different betting partners to cover different regions. ‘Asian betting partner’ has become increasingly a common sight with examples including 678.com for AS Roma (2023), NIU8 for Valencia (2022) and Asiabet33 for Fulham (2021). You can find examples covering other regions too though, such as Tottenham announcing 1xBet as its betting partner for Africa or Man City’s deal to bring in Sportium as its official betting partner for Latin America.

We have provided just a few examples here but it is worth stressing that these types of geographically restricted deals are not remotely uncommon among high-profile teams. They do not even have to cover a whole continent as Juventus showed when penning a deal with Betera to become its betting partner in CIS countries!

Going back to Man City briefly and during 2023 they listed four regional betting partners, LeoVegas, 8XBet, Sportium and SportyBet each covering their own area. Admittedly, a total of four is larger than most of their rivals but it goes to show just how many deals take place that you are likely to be completely unaware of. Ask yourself if you know who the official betting partner(s) of your favourite team, is because many fans will not.

Are Partners Only Gambling Firms?

Burnley FC sponsor list
Burnley FC sponsor list, 2023

If you look at shirt sponsorship in the ‘Big 5’ European leagues, no sector is responsible for a bigger total share of revenue than gambling at 12%. Particularly in the Premier League, for lower to mid-table clubs, betting firms can simply offer sums of money companies in other areas cannot compete with. More ‘ethical’ alternatives often can only offer around half-as much according to one report.

When it comes to betting partners though, gambling firms do not dominate in quite the same way. They certainly have a presence and provide a decent income but clubs have all kinds of other official partners. If you take Manchester United for example, they have an official tyre partner, an official medical system partner and an official wine partner. The full list is actually rather impressive and includes other partners for percussive therapy devices, electrical styling, formal wear, mattresses and pillows, coffee, hotel loyalty, vision, football video games, skincare, a financial trading platform, logistics, and (alcoholic) spirits.

Although United’s commercial prowess is particularly impressive, even smaller clubs have a lengthy list of various partners. Take nearby Burnley FC for example and they had 17 various partnerships at the time of writing. Evidently, when it comes to these official partnerships, football clubs are not focussing solely on gambling, and far from it.

Many other industries see the value in forging strong ties with clubs given the huge popularity of the sport. We would assume, however, that betting firms will provide some of the better partnership contracts, given the level of competition and their general willingness to pay big sponsorship sums.

Should Betting Partners Be Allowed?

Ch 4's Football's Gambling Addiction

European football gets a sizeable chunk of its income from betting firms. Although only a fraction of this comes from regular official partnerships (the bulk deriving from shirt and sleeve sponsors) it is worth asking if such deals should be allowed to exist. Campaigners will argue that giving such visibility to betting firms inside a stadium through these deals is potentially harmful, especially given how many children watch football live. Given the issues some countries have with problem gambling, wanting to adopt a strict approach to such deals is understandable.

According to a Channel 4 investigation, Football’s Gambling Addiction, in most televised games logos of gambling companies can appear as many as 700 times a match. It is such a deep-rooted relationship now that many teams even have betting firms sponsoring their training kit, something there are currently no plans to ban. So, even if banning gambling partnerships in itself will not have a huge impact, it will help reduce the huge exposure betting firms retain in football.

On the flip side of the argument, you will have clubs arguing that taking cuts to their revenue will harm them. They would also say that these partnerships hardly involve aggressive sales tactics or encourage problematic gambling behaviour. Additionally, governments rarely get involved in actions that only impact people living elsewhere. Therefore, even if they banned domestic sponsorship deals, they are extremely unlikely to do anything about overseas agreements (as is the case in Italy), even if they could. There is no right or wrong answer here as it is a matter of debate but what you can be more sure about is that official betting partners are unlikely to disappear from football anytime soon.