Entain Renews Push to Ban Unlicensed Football Sponsors

Entain, the FTSE-listed owner of Ladbrokes and Coral, has renewed its call for the government to bring in an immediate ban on unlicensed gambling firms sponsoring British sport, in a fresh intervention published on 18 September 2026. It is the second time in a matter of weeks that the company has publicly pressed ministers on the issue, this time backed by new analysis into how visible black-market bookmakers remain across the Premier League.

What’s actually changed

Entain has once again pushed for the UK government to implement an immediate ban on unlicensed gambling operators sponsoring British sport, reiterating calls made during the DCMS consultation but backed by further analysis into the prevalence of black market bookmakers in the Premier League.

Earlier this month, Entain wrote to 10 Premier League clubs affiliated with unregulated gambling companies.
Those clubs included Everton, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur, among others named in Entain’s letters.

The company says
half of the Premier League has some form of sponsorship or advertising agreement involving a gambling company that does not hold a UK Gambling Commission licence
, with brands such as Stake, SBOTOP, 8XBet, FUN88, VSBet and Chexx.bet appearing across kits, sleeves and pitch-side advertising. To illustrate how easily these sites can be reached by UK users, an Entain representative said
“I was able to open an account within five minutes using details in the name of Andy Burnham while connected through a VPN appearing to be in Vietnam, and reach the point of depositing with cryptocurrency”
, referring to the current Prime Minister.

Rather than clubs pulling back, the opposite has happened.
Shortly after Entain’s letters, Sunderland signed a partnership with crypto-centric online casino and sports betting platform Shuffle, for the unlicensed operator to appear on the club’s kit’s sleeve.
Entain has also pointed to consumer research suggesting
four in five consumers are unable to identify an unlicensed operator, which could tarnish the credibility of harm prevention organisations such as GAMSTOP.

The DCMS consultation on the issue closed on 9 September, but an announcement of a decision is yet to be made.
Officials have been consistent that any change will take time:
DCMS has continuously stated that a ban on unlicensed operators in sport, if approved, is highly unlikely to come into effect until the 2027/28 Premier League season at the earliest.

What it means for you

For most account-holders with a UK-licensed casino or bookmaker, nothing changes immediately – this is a lobbying dispute rather than a new rule. But it is a useful reminder of the gap between what looks like a normal football sponsor and what is actually licensed to take your money. Brands appearing on a Premier League sleeve, hoarding or training kit are not automatically UK Gambling Commission licensees, and if you sign up with one you lose the consumer protections that come with a licence – including access to the Gambling Commission’s dispute process, mandatory safer-gambling tools, and GamStop’s self-exclusion coverage. If a shirt or perimeter advert leads you to a site you don’t recognise, it is worth checking the Gambling Commission’s public register before depositing.

The bigger picture

This is Entain’s second public appeal on the subject in a matter of weeks, and it lands against a difficult backdrop for the company:
the business has recently announced it may be cutting up to 400 roles in its customer care department, and chief executive Stella David has urged the government to refrain from imposing higher taxes on machine games
, with
Machine Games Duty rumoured to potentially double in the Autumn Budget
. Entain’s argument is that licensed operators are being squeezed by tax and cost pressures while unlicensed rivals gain free exposure through football. As David put it,
“Inconvenience is not an excuse for inaction.”
The episode sits alongside the wider push – including the DCMS sponsorship consultation and recent Lords calls for tighter advertising rules – to close the gap between what UK-licensed operators must do and what unlicensed offshore brands can currently get away with in British football.

Sources

• SBC News – Entain makes second call for a ban on unlicensed UK sponsors
• Insider Sport – Entain fires warning shot at Premier League’s betting deals
• SBC News – DCMS told to apply sports gambling ban to licensed firms
• World Casino Directory – UK Betting Sponsorship Review Endangers Premier League Deals