Gambling & Betting Brands Heat Up

Written by Cosmos Barraclough and Brandon Olechowski // Data Curation by Cosmos Barraclough

If you’re an avid follower of professional football (or soccer as us unsophisticated fans call it:-) ), you might have noticed that in the last 10 years more teams have made gambling brands the main sponsor on their jerseys. The most prominent example of this that comes to mind is the English Premier League. Eight out of 20 Premier League clubs displayed the logo of a gambling platform on the front of their jerseys during the 2020-2021 season. Popular teams like West Ham United FC display betting companies such as Betway as their main sponsor.

Other prominent clubs like Leeds United and Southampton FC also have adopted betting services as their main jersey sponsors like SBOTOP and Sportsbet.io, with many other teams sporting other betting brands.

Gambling brands, front & center, for now

By sponsoring Premier League clubs, gambling platforms are able to put themselves in front of millions of soccer fans. In return, Premier League clubs receive millions of pounds from the gambling platforms that sponsor them.

However, in recent months the UK has put the entire gambling world under a microscope and issued recent warnings that gambling laws are going to be reviewed. Despite the money generated by betting platform’s jersey sponsors, there has been speculation that the UK government could do away with betting platforms on jerseys altogether. Not only does the government aim to stop gambling sponsorship on jerseys, they may even put in limits on how much can be wagered and require bank statements or pay stubs for bets over certain amounts.

Betting meets US sports

In contrast to the UK, the world of sports gambling in the United States is looking to expand. The US already has 14 states where online gambling is legal, fives states with legal retail betting, and nine states that are pending approval. With the boom of legalized betting across several states in the US, major sports leagues and teams have seen this as an opportunity to make up for lost revenue caused by the pandemic. Many MLB teams are taking advantage of the growing popularity, brokering multi-million dollar sponsorship deals with sportsbook companies like DraftKings and FanDuel.

Other leagues have also struck deals with DraftKings such as the NBA, NHL, and the UFC. BetMGM is involved with many of the major sports leagues and teams across the US like the MLB, NHL, and NFL.

The rise of sportsbooks

The US has not only seen a boom in the legalization of betting but also in the rise of sportsbook agencies that are available. With companies such as BetMGM, DraftKings, FanDuel, and many others rising, this marks the beginning for the sports betting industry in the US. Fans who partake in betting consume much more content and watch many more games than traditional fans which incentivizes major teams and leagues to work out deals.

With the vast population of the US, the revenue potential for teams and sportsbooks continues to grow with every state legalizing gambling. California alone is speculated to have a larger market than all of the UK should betting become legal there. This has led to sportsbook agencies from other countries looking to get a foothold in the US market, such as Unibet, which is part of the Kindred group based in Malta. Unibet already works with the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL), the New Jersey Devils (NHL), and the Philadelphia Union (MLS).

Stay tuned for more gambling and betting posts from us, as we dive deeper into the data and metrics.

Written by Cosmos Barraclough and Brandon Olechowski // Data Curation by Cosmos Barraclough