Half of the Premier League’s shirts will be emblazoned with a gambling company’s logo during the 2019-20 season, reigniting concern about the normalisation of betting among young fans. Premier League clubs stand to earn a record £349.1m from shirt sponsorship deals in the coming season, a rise of more than 10% compare to £315.6m in 2018-19. Ten of the 20 top flight clubs will display the branding of a gambling company, up from nine last season and the joint highest number ever, after signing deals worth a combined £69m. Betting’s dominance is even more pronounced in the Championship, where 17 out of 24 club shirts will show a betting logo, meaning 27 of England’s top 44 clubs have agreed to do so. The industry tightened its grip on football despite growing concern among MPs, campaigners and even Ladbrokes-owned GVC, which has pledged to end shirt sponsorship. Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson, who has said the party would ban gambling companies from football shirts if the party won power, said the gambling industry was undermining its own claims to be behaving responsibly. “Less than a year ago, we were told by the gambling industry that they are committed to reducing the amount of advertising in football. We were told that we are facing a ‘watershed moment’ in which they would strive to provide an ever safer gambling environment. “These are their words, not mine. But it is impossible to take these words in good faith when we are actually seeing an increase in gambling advertising around matches. “The time for warm words is over. Either the industry is going to act in good faith, or we will need stricter regulation of gambling advertising – starting with a ban on football shirt sponsorship.” While gambling companies are by far the most numerous among football shirt sponsors, they are not the most lucrative according to data compiled by the Sporting Intelligence website. Manchester United stand to be by far the biggest beneficiary of shirt deals thanks to the club’s $80m-a-year sponsorship deal with US automotive giant Chevrolet, the value of which has risen in sterling terms due to the pound’s weakness against the dollar. They are closely followed by the £45m-a-year deal that near neighbours Manchester City have with Etihad, the airline owned by Abu Dhabi, the emirate whose royal family includes City owner Sheikh Mansour. But while none of the top six have a gambling sponsor, the industry accounts for the vast majority of the rest of the 14 remaining clubs’ shirt deals, with Malta-based Betway the biggest contributor via its £10m deal with West Ham United. “Given gambling companies have accepted the principle of not showing TV ads during football matches because they are visible to children, it is completely unjustifiable for the pre-watershed ban to not extend to shirt sponsorship and pitch perimeter advertising as well,” said recovering gambling addict James Grimes. Grimes is leading The Big Step, a charity walk from Manchester City to Manchester United, via six clubs that have betting sponsors, to raise money for Gambling With Lives, a charity set up by Liz and Charles Ritchie after son Jack, 24, took his own life following a betting addiction. A study released earlier this year warned of “dire consequences” due to the industry’s saturation of the game, while recent research has shown links between gambling and suicide. Both Ladbrokes-owner GVC and Paddy Power Betfair have broken ranks with the industry by calling for an end to shirt sponsorship deals.
Ten out of the 22 Premier League clubs will be shirt - sponsored by gambling companies in the 2019/20 season , intensifying the debate about normalising betting for younger fans . In the Championship , 17 out of 44 clubs ' shirts are sponsored by betting companies , bringing the total number of clubs in England whose shirts will feature a gambling firm logo to 27 out of the top 44 . The sponsorship deals will earn Premier League clubs £ ##30 m ( $ 437.9 m ) , 10 % more than the previous season .