TLDR
- Newcastle United signed a new deal with unlicensed betting operator 8Xbet as its official Asian betting partner in late February 2026
- UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said gambling sponsorships in football are “not right,” but the government has offered no timeline for action beyond a spring 2026 consultation
- 11 of 20 Premier League clubs currently have gambling sponsors on their shirts, with five of those operators lacking UK licences
- Clubs like Chelsea and Aston Villa have hidden Asian betting partnerships by only showing ads to users in certain regions
- The Gambling Commission fined TGP Europe £3.3 million last year, forcing it out of the UK market, but clubs continued displaying its affiliated brands on shirts anyway
English Premier League clubs are still signing sponsorship deals with unlicensed gambling operators. This is happening despite growing pressure from the UK government to crack down on such partnerships.
Newcastle United is the latest club to do so. The club announced a deal with 8Xbet in late February, making the brand its official Asian betting partner.
The move came just weeks after UK Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said gambling brands sponsoring big football clubs is “not right.”
However, the government has not yet taken concrete action. Officials said a consultation would begin at some point in spring 2026, with a report to follow. No firm date has been set.
Why Clubs Keep Taking the Money
Sean Connell of The Sponsor, a sports sponsorship tracking firm, said the reason is simple. For many clubs outside the top tier, sponsorship income is a critical part of the financial model.
He told Gambling Insider that this money directly affects transfer budgets and on-pitch performance.
Connell added that clubs will continue signing these deals for as long as they remain legal. He said the flow of money in sponsorship markets rarely stops until regulation makes a category clearly illegal.
The numbers back this up. AFC Bournemouth, which finished ninth last season, earns a reported £6.1 million per year from its deal with BJ88. That figure is 49% above market value for a mid-table team.
One unnamed commercial director told The Sponsor that the highest offer from a non-gambling brand was less than half what a gambling sponsor was willing to pay.
Of the 20 Premier League clubs, 11 currently display gambling sponsors on their shirts. Five of those operators do not hold UK licences.
The league voluntarily agreed in April 2023 to ban gambling logos from the front of shirts starting in the 2026/2027 season. Data from The Sponsor suggests that ban will reduce the market value of those shirt slots by up to 38%.
The Asian Betting Partner Loophole
Some of these deals are barely visible to UK audiences. An investigation by The Guardian found that clubs including Aston Villa, Chelsea, and Nottingham Forest displayed ads for Asian betting brands on stadium boards while not publicly listing the partnerships.
Chelsea disclosed its deal with 8Xbet. But a separate arrangement with Kaiyun reportedly only appeared on the club’s website when accessed from select Asian IP addresses.
Aston Villa listed Nova88 as its Official Asian Betting Partner in a pre-season statement. Then it quietly removed any mention from its partner section.
This kind of arrangement allows clubs to argue the sponsorships target overseas audiences, not UK residents.
Lawmakers have raised concerns about UK residents using unlicensed sites. These include links to organized crime, a lack of responsible gambling controls, and no mandatory financial vulnerability checks.
When the Gambling Commission warned clubs in May 2025 that their TGP-affiliated sponsors could expose them to prosecution, it made no difference. Everton kept Stake.com’s logo on their shirts after the operator lost its UK licence. Sunderland continued with W88.
The Gambling Commission did take action against TGP Europe last year, issuing a £3.3 million fine that forced the white-label operator out of the UK market entirely.
The government’s consultation, paired with the Illegal Gambling Taskforce, represents a more coordinated attempt to address the issue than previous efforts.
But the consultation has not started yet. No legislation has been introduced. And the Asian betting partner category remains legally ambiguous. As of March 2026, clubs face no legal barrier to signing new deals with unlicensed operators.
